.ttferfainrr ittftrfau Class ^ Bnnlc Copyright N° COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. Entertainer AND Entertained Compilation of ELEANOR H. CALDWELL "b BOSTON MAYHEW PUBLISHING CO. 191 1 ;s ^ V ^ v Copyright 1911, BY Eleanor H. Caldwell. CCI.A280r.72 Come read to me some poem, Some simple and heart felt lay, That shall soothe this restless feeling, And banish the thoughts of day. Then read from the treasured volume The poem of thy choice, And lend to the rhyme of the poet The beauty of thy voice. And the night shall be filled with music; And the cares that infest the day, Shall fold their tents like the Arabs, And as silently steal away. Henry W. Longfellow. PREFACE. These Ninety and Nine selections have been chosen from various authors for the ethical lessons the greater number contain. The High School or college student should be, not only a reader, but an entertainer. From his knowledge of oratorical studies he should be able to interpret the au- thor's meaning. If such is his ability he is in every sense of the word an entertainer and his hearers, whether in the school-room, the world, or the home, bear to him the relation of the entertained. Therefore, I dedicate this Reader to the two classes for whom it is named. For counsel and kindness shown, I gratefully acknowledge my indebtedness to the authors whose names are found herein, and to the following publishers: — Forbes & Co., Chicago Illinois., Charles Scribner Sons. New York City., The Century Publishing Co., Dodd, Mead & Co., P. J. Kennedy & Co., Houghton, Mifflin Co., Harper & Brothers. F. A. Stokes. Longmans, Green & Co. E. P. Dutton & Co., New York City. The Frank A. Munsey Co. Charles H. Kerr & Co. Richard G. Badger (The Gorham Press) Cosmopolitan Magazine. The Roycrofters. The Ladies Home Journal. The Outlook. The National Magazine. The Smart Set. Eleanor H. Caldwell. Boston, June 14, 1910. CONTENTS Opportunity, The Ancient Legend and the Modern Application 1 The Old School Clock John Boyle O'Reilly 2 Life's Paradox Shaler G. Hillyer 4 Demeanor in Church . . George Herbert 5 The Heather of Scotland Clifton Johnson 7 Hiawatha's Welcome to The Pale-Face . . . Henry W. Longfellow. 9 There is a Garden in my Heart Meribah Abbott 10 Father's Hand Maurice Smiley. 10 Abou Ben Adhem Leigh Hunt 11 Candor and Courtesy . . . Agnes Repplier 12 Just So! Arthur Chamberlain 14 The Holly Tree .... Robert Southey 15 Stratford-on-Avon . . Washington Irving 16 From Cymbeline Shakespeare 18 The Worship of Nature . . J. G. Whittier 19 The Oak Tennyson 21 Loyalty Elbert Hubbard 21 Chipeta Eugene Field 22 Con Cregan's Legacy . . . . Charles Lover 23 De Lawd'll See Yo Froo . Maurice Smiley 27 A River Pastoral . . . Clinton Scollard 28 Overruled J. G. Whittier 92 Abdication .... Cora Gaines Carrel 29 Heroism in Housekeeping Jane Welsh Carlyle 32 To Myself Paul Fleming 34 Opportunity John J. Ingalls 35 Jennie Fred Emerson Brooks 36 Saint Francis and the Birds 37 Old Fashioned Philosophy . J. A. Edgerton 38 The Auld Plaid Shawl Francis A. Fahy 38 Tact and Talent From the London Atlas. 40 The Wind and the Moon George MacDonald 41 The Witch in The Glass Sarah M. B. Piatt 42 The Story of Damon and Pythias Charlotte M. Yonge 43 The Road to You, (From the Omar Sonnets and the Lefra Lyrics) Translated by Oliver Opp Dyke. 45 Opportunity Walter Malone 46 A Builder's Lesson John Boyle O'Reilly. 47 Anner Lizer's Stumbling Block Part I. Paul Laurence Dunbar. 47 Anner Lizer's Stumbling Block Part II. Paul Laurence Dunbar. 52 How To Ask and Have Samuel Lover. 57 Herself and Myself . . . . P. J. McCall. 58 Wait Till To-Morrow . . . Philip B. Strong 59 My Trust . . J. G. Whittier 59 Love's Perplexity . . . . T. H. Farnham 61 The Story of a Garden Mabel Osgood Wright 62 War Alfred J. Waterhouse 64 The Kneeling Camel .... Anna Temple 65 The Aster and the Goldenrod Eugene Shurtleff 66 Seeing Things Outdoors S. C. Schmucker 66 Listen Frederick Abbott 68 Giving and Taking (Trans, from Hindoo) . . /. G. Whittier 69 The Lion Makers .... Pilpays 7 Fables 70 A Conqueror . . . . Pauline R. Stayner 71 Conjuhations . . . . - . Victor A. Hermann 72 Hand Shaking Sydney Smith 74 Our Country Julia Ward Howe 74 Old Glory .... Fred Emerson Brooks 75 The Three Vases .... 77 The Road to a Woman's Heart Thomas Chandler Haliburton 77 The Art of the Theatre . . Julia Marlowe 80 The Gospel of Labour . . Henry Van Dyke 88 A Collect for Thanksgiving Day .... Edwin Markham 89 Grandfather's Wish /. C.Briggs 90 A Bit of Good Luck . . Henry Van Dyke 91 Virtues of The Lower Animals Montaignes Essays 9 1 To Blanco Timothy Titcomb 93 Vanities, A New Arrival 93 Out of The Night That Covers Me . . . William Ernest Henley 94 Antoine Louis Barye . . . Charles DeKay 95 The Hare and Many Friends . . John Gay 97 Depending Upon Others . Mrs. .S C. Hall 98 Little Town op Bethlehem Phillips Brooks 101 Arbor Day Fred Emerson Brooks 102 A Burns Pilgrimage (from the land of heather.) Clifton Johnson 103 Mans Hidden Side Nathan Haskell Dole- 105 The Inward Judge (From Institutes of Man) /. G. Whittier 106 A Pearl of Great Price Henry Van Dyke 106 At Midnight Nathan Haskell Dole 109 1 Know That My Redeemer Lives .... Fred Emerson Brooks 109 Hame's Hame Willis Boyd Allen 111 Walking Henry D. Thoreau 111 Fishing Alfred L. Donaldson 114 There is no God . . Arthnr Hugh Clough 115 Anonymous Street . . . . Clinton S collar d 116 How We Should Struggle Against Appearances Epictetus 117 Henry's Wooing of Katharine Shakespeare 119 Curiosity .... Paul Lawrence Dunbar 125 He Who Died at Azan (From the Arabic) . Sir Edwin Arnold's Translation 126 His First Love . . . Margaret Sangster 129 A Home Song Henry Van Dyke 130 Eulogy on the Dog . . . George G. Vest 130 Rain . . . . ^ . . Mrs. A. K. Carrel 131 Lying Abed Gelett Burgess 132 Now 135 Patient Mercy Jones . . .James F. Fields 137 Horace on Charitable Judgments .... 140 Tammy Baroness Nairne 141 IJp-HiLL Christina Georgina Rosetti 142 Sonnet Trans. Omar Sonnets and Lefra Lyrics. 143 OPPORTUNITY. THE ANCIENT LEGEND AND THE MODERN APPLICATION. One of the finest examples of Greek art was the statue "Take Time by the Forelock." It was the work of Lysip- pus of Sicyon, a contemporary of Alexander the Great. The statue by that noted sculptor has not come down to us, but there are several descriptions of it known to exist, the most trustworthy, perhaps being that by Callistratus, an Athenian orator. He describles it as follows: "Opportunity was a boy in the flower of youth, hand- some in mien, his hair fluttering at the caprice of the wind, leaving his locks disheveled. Like Dionysius, his forehead shone with grace and his cheeks glowed with splendor. With winged feet, to indicate swiftness, he stood upon a sphere, resting upon the tips of his toes, as if ready for flight. His hair fell in thick curls from his brow easy to take hold upon; but upon the back of his head, there were only the beginnings of hairy growths, and when he had once passed it was not possible to seize him." One of the Greek poets who saw the statue said that the youth held a razor in his hand. The reason for this is given in this ancient legend: — "Who art thou?" "Time, the all-subduer." "Why standest thou on tiptoe ?" "I speed ever." "Why hast thou double wings on each foot?" "I fly with the wind." "In thy hand, why hast thou that razor? " 'Tis a sign to men, that keener than any edge am I." "But why is thy hair over thine eye?" "To be grasped by him who meets me." "The back of thy head, why is it bald?" *'When once I have rushed by with winged feet, one can never grasp me from behind." ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. "Why made thee the artist thus" ? "For thy sake, O stranger, he placed this warning lesson at the doorway." It is those who have seized Opportunity by the forelock who have won the rewards of life. Many employers claim that young men come to them for work who are wholly unprepared to grasp the opportuni- ties which arise in connection with their business, thereby failing to win promotion when promotion is awaiting them. Lincoln grasped his opportunity in the log cabin in the wilderness. Edison is one of the best examples of men who grasped opportunity. In some respects he lured opportunity until it came to him. Charles M. Schwab, made up his mind to do MORE than his employer expected him to do. Selected from a periodical, unable to locate the source. THE OLD SCHOOL CLOCK. John Boyle O'Reilly. Old memories rush o'er my mind just now Of faces and friends of the past; Of that happy time when life's dreams were all bright, E'er the clear sky of youth was o'ercast. Very dear are those memories, they've clung round my heart, And bravely withstood Time's rude shock; But not one is more hallowed or dear to me now Than the face of the old school clock. 'Twas a quaint old clock with a quaint old face, And great iron weights and chain; It stopped when it liked, and before it struck It creaked as if 'twere in pain. It had seen many years, and it seemed to say, "I'm one of the real old stock." To the youthful fry, who with reverence looked On the face of the old school clock. ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. How many a time have I labored to sketch That yellow and time-honored face, With its basket of flowers, its figures and hands, And the weights and the chains in their place! How oft have I gazed with admiring eye, As I sat on the wooden block And pondered and guessed at the wonderful things That were inside that old school clock! What a terrible frown did the old clock wear To the truant, who timidly cast An anxious eye on those merciless hands That for him had been moving too fast! But its frown soon changed; for it loved to smile On the thoughtless, noisy flock, And it creaked and whirred and struck with glee, Did that genial, good-humored old clock. Well, years had passed, and my mind was filled With the world, its cares and ways, When again I stood in that little school Where I passed my boyhood's days. My old friend was gonel and there hung a thing That my sorrow seemed to mock, As I gazed with a tear and a softened heart At a new-fashioned Yankee clock. 'Twas a gaudy thing with bright-painted sides, And it looked with insolent stare On the desks and the seats and on everything old And I thought of the friendly air Of the face that I missed, with its weights and chains, All gone to the auctioneer's block: 'Tis a thing of the past, never more shall I see But in memory that old school clock. ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. 'Tis the way of the world: old friends pass away, And fresh faces arise in their stead; But still 'mid the din and the bustle of life We cherish fond thoughts of the dead. Yes, dearly those memories cling round my heart, And bravely withstand Time's rude shock But not one is more dear or more hallowe'd to me Than the face of that old school clock. LIFE'S PARADOX. Shaler G. Hillyer. They told me Wealth was all in all, and then, With greed that comes alone to famished men, I strove for wealth ; by day and night I toiled, Nor recked how others fared, what hopes were spoiled. And when 'twas gained I stopped to count my store, To count, exult, and, eager, wish it more,; But as each piece fell on the vault's hard stone, Mixed with its ring I heard a human groan. I started up from the accusing pile, Now worse than vain, that did so late beguile! They told me Pleasure was the chiefest good, And so I followed whereso'er she would; Where light feet led, where mocking lips allured, And black eyes told my hopes were half assured. When all was gained, then blight fell on my isle — I had been dreaming on a wanton's smile. They told me only Knowledge was divine, And so I strove straightway to make it mine. I read all books, held converse with the wise, Traveled all lands, and searched the distant skies Then, standing in the edge of Learning's sea, I heard the breakers calling thus to me: "In vain, O man, my depths thou wouldst explore; Thy soundings all lie close within the shore," ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. Wealth, Pleasure, Knowledge, all in turn were tried, Yet in the dust it seemed I must abide. A spirit came and whispered in my ear, And raised me up; then led me to a height From which we had a vision far and clear Of all the world, its peace and joy and light. The spirit said: "If thou wilt follow me, Wilt seek not self, but look beyond, above, All that thou seest will I give to thee." I raised my eyes — the spirit's name was Love. DEMEANOR IN CHURCH. Though private prayer be a brave design, Yet public hath more promises, more love And love is a weight to hearts ; to eyes, a sign. We all are but cold suitors, let us move Where it is warmest. Leave thy six and seven; Pray with the most, for, where most pray, is heaven. When once thy feet enter the church, be bare, God is more there than thou: for thou art there Only by his permission. Then beware; And make thyself all reverence and fear. Kneeling ne'er spoiled silk stockings. Quit thy state: All equal are within the church's gate. Resort to sermons; but to prayers most: Praying is the end of preaching. Oh, be drest! Stay not for the other pin. Why, thou hast lost A joy, for it, worth worlds. Thus hell doth jest Away thy blessings, and extremely flout thee; Thy clothes being fast, but thy soul loose, about thee. ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. In time of service seal up both thine eyes, And send them to thy heart; that, spying sin, They may weep out the stains by them did rise, Those doors being shut, all by the ear comes in. Who marks in church time others' symmetry, Makes all their beauty his deformity. Let vain or busy thoughts have there no part, Bring not thy plow, thy plots, thy pleasures thither. Christ purged his Temple; so must thou thy heart. All worldly thoughts are but thieves met together To cozen thee. Look to thy actions well; For churches either are heaven or hell. Judge not the preacher; for he is thy judge. If thou mislike him, thou conceives t him not, God calleth preaching, folly. Do not grudge To pick out treasures from an earthen pot. The worst speak something good. If all want sense, God takes a text and preacheth patience. He that gets patience, and the blessings which Preachers conclude with, hath not lost his pains. He that, by being at church, escapes the ditch, Which he might fall in by companions, gains. He that loves God's abode, and to combine With saints on earth, shall with them one day shine. Jest not at preachers' language or expression. How know'st thou but thy sins made him miscarry? Then turn thy faults and his into confession. God sent him whatsoe'er he be. Oh, tarry And love him for his Master! His condition, Though it be ill, makes him no ill physician. George Herbert. ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. THE HEATHER OF SCOTLAND. Clifton Johnson. Heather is not peculiarly Scotch. It grows on the moors and waste lands of all parts of Britain and is found in most sections of the continent of Europe. But in Scotland it is omnipresent to an unusual degree; and besides, it has be- come so closely associated in literature both of fact and fiction with this particular country as to have acquired many synonymous attributes. The flowers are of a lilac rose color but vary much in depth of tint, thus adding ma- terially to the beauty of the wilds which they delight to in- habit. The heather is in its glory in late August and early September, and one who sees it then would be apt to forget that it had any other mission than to delight the eye, yet it is not without its utilitarian aspect as well. The domestic bees find their richest feast of the year in its blossoms; the plants contribute much to the formation of peat; the shrubby growth makes admirable cover for the game birds, and is often used for thatching cottages, or is tied to handles for brooms and in bunches for scrubbing brushes; and still other uses might be mentioned. Naturally one would expect the heather to be the Scotch national flower, and perhaps it might have been had not a chance incident conferred the distinction on the thistle. History says this choice was due to James III. who took the thistle to illustrate his royal motto, "In Defence," but ac- cording to tradition the preference given the thistle dates back to the time when the Norsemen ravaged all the shores of northern Europe. On one occasion in the dead of night, an invading Norse force approached unperceived the camp of the Scots who had gathered to oppose them. But while the Norsemen paused to ascertain the unde- fended points of the camp they proposed to assault, one of their spies stepped on a thistle and the sudden pain brought forth a violent oath. This aroused the Scots, and they hastened to attack the invaders, gained a complete victory ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. and afterwards adopted the plant which had been the means of their delivery as their emblem. The thistles thorny vigor perhaps very well expressed the Scotch character in those long-gone fighting days, but now the hardiness and warm bloom of the heather, to my mind, indicate more exactly the racial individuality. "From The Land O' Heather" ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. HIAWATHA'S WELCOME TO THE PALE FACE. H. W. Longfellow. Beautiful is the sun, O strangers, When you come so far to see us! All our town in peace awaits you, All our doors stand open for you, You shall enter all our wigwams For the heart's right hand we give you. Never bloomed the earth so gayly, Never shone the sun so brightly, As to-day they shine and blossom, When you come so far to see us! Never was our lake so tranquil, Nor so free from rocks and sand-bars; For your birch canoe in passing, Has removed both rock and sand-bar! Ne'er before had our tobacco Such a sweet and pleasant flavor, Ne'er the broad leaves of our corn-fields Were so beautiful to look on, As they seem to us this morning, When you come so far to see us! ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. THERE IS A GARDEN IN MY HEART* Meribah Abbott. My neighbor hath a garden, A garden good to see; In lovely row the flowers grow To lure the vagrant bee; And all the air is sweet with scent From leaf and bud and blossom blent. High on my window ledge is set A box of modest mignonette ; Only this . . . but I envy not My neighbor, rich in his rainbow plot. There is a garden in my heart Bright as a crowned King's And love lives there beyond compare, And faith undying springs And all its walks are warm with sun From blessings known and friendships won. My neighbor glancing o'er his rosy hedge Smiles at the box upon my window ledge ; Nor dreams that tilled in poverty and pain Mine is the fairer garden of the twain . FATHER'S HAND. Maurice Smiley. A scene in the midst of the city Brought peace to my heart one day; A man, a rough man of the people, Was walking a city way; And fast to his hand held a toddler, With hair that was angel gold — And oh! the gentle confiding That clung in that dimpled hold! 10 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. And walking they came to a danger, A steep that was tiny and sheer, The wee clinging fingers tightened And the blue eyes widened with fear; But roughly the man reassured her In words she could understand; "There ain't nuthin' goin' to hurt you! Ain't papa got hold o' your hand?" But all thro' the petulant fondness. Impatient, rebuking and stern, The fatherhood rang like an anthem, And this is the lesson I learn — For I am a child like the toddler And I'm hearing the Father say: "Fear not any step of the journey Or pitfall along the way!" And e'en as the little, one feared not, But held all the closer and fast, Serene with a sureness that trusted, So clingeth my faith to the last. His shield and His love are around me, All dangers to safely withstand. What harm shall ever befall me ? — The Father holdeth my hand! ABOU BEN ADHEM. By Leigh Hunt. Abou Ben Adhem (may his tribe increase!) Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace, And saw within the moonlight in his room, Making it rich and like a lily in bloom, An angel writing in a book of gold: Exceeding peace had made Ben Adhem bold, And to the presence in the room he said: 11 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. "What writest thou? "The vision raised its head, And with a look made of all sweet accord, Answered, "The names of those who love the Lord.'' "And is mine one?" said Abou. "Nay, not so," Replied the angel. Abou spoke more low, But cheerly still, and said, "I pray thee, then, Write me as one that loves his fellow-men." The angel wrote and vanished. The next night It came again, with a great wakening light, And showed the names whom love of God had blessed — And lo! Ben Adhem's name led all the rest! * * * * Leigh Hunt was born at Southgate, Middlesex, England, October 19, 1784; and died at Putney, near London, August 28, 1859. The son of a clergyman, he was educated at Christ's Hospital, under the same master as Coleridge and Lamb. He was an ardent political reformer, and it was while in prison for libel against the Prince Regent that he first met Lord Byron, whose biography he afterwards wrote. Besides this, a long poem, "Rimini," and an "Autobi- ography," his works are principally essays and shorter poems, of which "Abou Ben Adhem" is perhaps the most famous. There are few school children who have not recited "Abou Ben Adhem," and in the more serious business of life it has served to point a moral, under most varied circumstances; in the marts of trade and the senate chamber it is equally familiar, for, short though it be, it is an epitome of true Christianity. CANDOR AND COURTESY. Agnes Repplier. There are certain virtues which seem to have an insep- arable objection to living peacefully and quietly in one-an- other's company. Turgenieff has told the story of Joves* 12 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. great banquet, at which there were no guests save virtues — all feminine — and how, upon this august occasion, two radiant creatures, Benevolence and Gratitude, met for the first time. But there are others — old and intimate ac- quaintances— who will not work harmoniously together, and of these Candor and Courtesy are conspicuous for their disagreements. It has been assumed that incompatibility of temper must forever debar these admirable qualities from joining hands to perfect a human soul. All the best arguments are marshaled on the side of Can- dor, and we dilate with our finest emotions at her name. The word truth, like the word liberty, is held too sacred for analysis. Only the still small voice of experience whispers an occasional warning in behalf of Courtesy, yet it has been well said that the difference between habitual rudeness and habitual politeness in a man's behavior is probably as great a difference as he will ever be able to make in the sum of human happiness. The mysterious connection which has been established be- tween rudeness and probity on the one hand, and between politeness and insincerity on the other, must be held re- sponsible for much that is disagreeable in our daily inter- course with our neighbors. We can bear tolerably well, en masse, the hearing of our faults, because everybody believes that the cap fits his neighbors head. There is something discouraging about the prefix "plain." It does not carry with it assurances of pleasing. A plain truth is sure to be a disagreeable truth, and it is almost sure to be disagreeably spoken. The plain speaker may not be unfriendly, but neither is he our friend. The best that has been said of him is that he is Laodicean, unconcerned either with our pleasure or our pain. "Manners maketh man" is the motto of the New College, Oxford, and its founder devoutly believed that there is a close and intimate connection between our outward de- meanor and our inward grace. The perpetual surrender which politeness exacts must reduce the sum total of our selfishness. To listen when we want to talk, to talk when we want to be silent, to stand when we want to sit 13 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. down, to accept the companionship of a stupid aquaintance when we might at the expense of politeness escape— all these things brace the sinews of our souls. They are not easy. It is not even easy to temper our speech to the shorn lamb who listens to us ; to say what we think will give pleasure rather than strike that sharp note of individualism which seldom stops short of brutality. The cultivated and reasoned attitude which we call Courtesy carries weight with thoughtful people. It means that we control our own forces, that we have been drilled in the priceless discipline of civilization. Plain speaking is endurable only when it is immaculately free from censoriousness. What is difficult to endure is the deliberate utterance of truths unasked and unwelcome ; truths which are not noble in themselves, and which are not nobly spoken, which may be trusted to offend and which nobody expects to illuminate . It is not for this that we have perfected thru centuries the priceless gift of language; it is not for this that we meet one another in the charming intercourse of life. From "The Smart Set" JUST SO! By Arthur Chamberlain. Prize-Winner in the "Cheerful Verse-Competition* When everything goes crooked, And seems inclined to rile, Don't kick nor fuss nor fidget, Just--you-smile! It's hard to learn the lesson. But learn it if you'd win; When people tease and pester, Just — you — grin! 14 ENNERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED When some one tries to "do" you By taking more than half, Be patient, firm and pleasant; Just —you — laugh) But if you find you're stuffy (Sometimes of course you will!) And cannot smie nor grin nor laugh Just-keep-still! , THE HOLLY-TREE. Reader! hast thou ever stood to see The Holly Tree? The eye that contemplates it well perceives Its glossy leaves, Ordered by an Intelligence so wise As might confound the Atheist's sophistries. Below a circling fence its leaves are seen, Wrinkled and keen ; No grazing cattle through their prickly round Can reach to wound; But as they grow where nothing is to fear, Smooth and unarmed the pointless leaves appear. 1 love to view those things with curious eyes, And moralize: And in this wisdom of the Holly-tree Can emblem see Wherewith perchance to make a pleasant rhyme, One which may profit in the after-time. Thus though abroad perchance I might appear Harsh and austere, To those who on my leisure would intrude Reserved and rude,- Gentle at home amid my friends I'd be, Like the high leaves upon the Holly-tree. 15 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. And should my youth as youth is apt, I know — Some harshness show All vain asperities I day by day Would wear away, Till the smooth temper of my age should be Like the high leaves upon the Holly- tree. And as, when all the summer trees are seen So bright and green, The Holly leaves a sober hue display Less bright than they, But when the bare and wintry woods we see, What then so cheerful as the Holly-tree ? So serious should my youth appear among The thoughtless throng; So would I seem, amid the young and gay, More grave than they, That in my age as cheerful I might be As the green winter of the Holly-tree. Robert Sotjthey. STRATFORD-ON-AVON. I had come to Stratford on a poetical pilgrimage. My first visit was to the house where Shakespeare was born. It is a small mean-looking edifice of wood and plaster, a true nestling-place of genius, which seems to delight in hatching its offspring in by corners. The walls of its squalid chambers are covered with names and inscriptions in every language, by pilgrims of all nations, ranks and conditions, from the prince to the peasant, and present a simple but striking instance of the spontaneous and uni- versal homage of mankind to the great poet of nature. My hostess was assiduous in exhibiting the relics with which this, like all other celebrated shrines abounds. There was an ample supply of Shakespeare's mulberry tree, which seems to have as extraordinary powers of self-multipli- 16 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. cation as the wood of the true cross; of which there is enough extant to build a ship of the line. The most favor- ite object of curiosity however, is Shakespeare's chair. In this chair it is the custom of every one that visits the house to sit: whether this be done with the hope of im- bibing any of the inspiration of the bard I am at a loss to say, and mine hostess privately assured me, that, though built in solid oak, such was the fervent zeal of devotees, that the chair had to be new bottomed once in three years. It is worthy of notice also, in the history of this extraordinary chair, that it partakes something of the volatile nature of the Santa Casa of Lorretto, or the flying chair of the Arabian enchanter; for though sold some years since to a nothern princess, yet, strange to tell, it has found its way back again to the old chimney corner. I am always of easy faith in such matters, and am ever willing to be deceived, where the deceit is pleasant and costs nothing. I am therefore, a ready believer in relics, legends, and local anecdotes of goblins and great men; and would advise all travellers who travel for their gratifif ation to be the same. What is it to us, whether these stories be true or false, so long as we can persuade ourselves into the belief of them, and enjoy all the charm of the reality? There is nothing like resolute good-humored credulity in these matters; and on this occasion I went so far as willing- ly to believe the claims of mine hostess to a lineal descent from the poet, when, luckily for my faith, she put into my hands a play of her own composition, which set all belief in her consanguinity at defiance. From the birthplace of Shakespeare a few paces brought me to his grave. He lies buried in the chancel of the parish church. The place is solemn and sepulchral. Tall elms wave before the pointed windows, and the Avon, which runs at a short distance from the walls, keeps up a low perpetual murmur. A flat stone marks the spot where the bard is buried. There are four lines inscribed on it, said to have been written by himself, and which have in them something extremely awful. If they are indeed his own, they show that solici- 17 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. tude about the quiet of the grave which seems natural to fine sensibilities and thoughtful minds. Good friend, for Jesus' sake forbeare To dig the dust inclosed here, Blessed he be that spares these stones, And curst he be that moves my bones. The inscription on the tombstone has not been without its effect. It has prevented the removal of his remains from the bosom of his native place to Westminister Abbey, which was at one time contemplated, a few years since also as some laborers were digging to make an adjoining vault, the earth caved in, so as to leave a vacant space almost like an arch, through which one might have reached into his grave. No one, however, presumed to meddle with his remains so awfully guarded by a malediction; and lest any of the idle or the curious, or any collector of relics, should be tempted to commit depredations, the old sexton kept watch over the place for two days, until the vault was finished and the aperture closed again. He told me that he had made bold to look in at the hole, but could see neither coffin nor bones; nothing but dust. It was some- thing, I thought, to have seen the dust of Shakespeare. Washington Irving. FROM CYMBELINE. Shakespeare. Nor the furious winter's rages, Thou thy worldly task hast done Home art gone and ta'en thy wages. Fear no more the frown o' the great Thou art past the tyrants' stroke Care no more to clothe and eat To thee the reed is as the oak The sceptre, learning, physic must All follow this and come to dust. 18 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. Fear no more the lightning-flash, Nor the all-dreaded thunder stone; Fear not slander, censure rash; Thou hast finished joy and moan; All lovers young, all lovers must Consign to thee, and come to dust. Act. IV. -Sc. ii. THE WORSHIP OF NATURE By Whittier. "Pentecost" is from a Greek word which signifies the 50th, because the feast of pentecost was celebrated the 50th day after the 16th of Nisam, which was the second day of the feast of the passover. On the day of Pentecost, as recorded in the Bible, the law embodied in the ten command- ments was given to Moses on Mt. Sinai, and on the day of Pentecost occurred the miraculous descent of the Holy Ghost upon the apostles, as thus told in the second chapter of Acts: "And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the houses where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with other tongues, as the spirit gave them utterance." The harp at Nature's advent strung Has never ceased to play; The song the stars of morning sung Has never died away. And prayer is made, and praise is given, By all things near and far; The ocean looketh up to heaven, And mirrors every star. 19 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. Its waves are kneeling on the strand, As kneels the human knee, Their white locks bowing to the sand, The priesthood of the sea! They pour their glittering treasures forth. Their gifts of pearl they bring, And all the listening hills of earth Take up the song they sing. The green earth sends her incense up From many a mountain shrine; From folded leaf and dewy cup She pours her sacred wine. The mists above the morning rills Rise white as wings of prayer; The altar-curtains of the hills Are sunset's purple air. The winds with hymns of praise are loud, Or low with sobs of pain — The thunder-organ of the cloud, The dropping tears of rain. With drooping head and branches crossed, The twilight forest grieves, Or speaks with tongues of Pentecost From all its sunlit leaves. The blue sky is the temple's arch, Its transept, earth and air, The music of its starry march The chorus of a prayer. So nature keeps the reverent frame With which her years began, And all her signs and voices shame The prayerless heart of man, 20 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. THE OAK. Alfred Tennyson. Live thy Life Young and old Like yon oak Bright in spring Living gold. Summer-rich Then-and then Autumn-changed Soberer-hued Gold again All his leaves Fallen at length, Look he stands Trunk and bough. Naked strength. LOYALTY. By Elbert Hubbard. Loyalty is that quality which prompts a person to be true to the thing he undertakes. It means definite direction, fixity of purpose, steadfastness. Loyalty supplies power, poise, purpose, ballast, and works for health and success. Nature helps the loyal man. If you are careless, slipshod, indifferent, nature assumes that you wish to be a nobody and grants your desire. Success hinges on loyalty. Be true to your art, your busi- ness, your employer, your "house." Loyalty is for the one who is loyal. It is a quality woven through the very fabric of one's being, and never a thing apart. Loyalty makes the thing to which you are loyal yours. Disloyalty removes it from you. Whether anyone knows of our disloyalty is really of little moment, either one 21 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. way or the other. The real point is, how does it affect ourselves ? Work is for the worker. Love is for the lover. Art is for the artist. The menial is a man who is disloyal to his work. All useful service is raised to the plane of art when love for the task — loyalty — is fused with the effort. No man ever succeeded in business, or can, who "wears the dial off the clock." Such a one may not be disloyal — he may be merely unloyal; but he is always ripe for a lay-off and always imagines some one has it in for him. And he is right — everybody and everything, including Fate and Destiny, Clio and Nemesis, has it in for him. The only man who goes unscathed is the one who is loyal to himself by being loyal to others. Loyalty is the great lubricant in life. It saves the wear and tear of making daily decisions as to what is best to do. It preserves balance and makes results cumulative. The man who is loyal to his work is not wrung nor perplexed by doubts — he sticks to the ship, and if the ship founders he goes down a hero with colors flying at the masthead and the band playing. The hospitals, jails, asylums and sanitariums are full of disloyal people — folks who have been disloyal to friends, society, business, work. Stick! and if you quit, quit to tackle a harder job. God is on the side of the loyal. {From CosmopolitanMagazine.) CHIPETA. She is bravest and best of a cursed race — Give her a lodge on the mountain side, And, when she is gone, on the hill provide The Queen of the Utes' last resting place. She rode where old Ouray dared not ride — A path thru the wilderness, rough and wild; She rode to plead for woman and child — She rode by the yawning chasm's side. 22 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. She rode on the rocky, fir-clad hill, Where the panther mewed, and the crested jay- Piped echoless through the desert day — She rode in the valleys dark and chill. Oh! such a ride as a woman can — By the God-like power that in her lies, Or an inspiration from the skies — Achieve for woman and son of man. — They live and through the country wide Where'er they come, where'er they go, Though their hairs grow white as the driven snow, They will tell of brave Chipeta's ride. She is bravest and best of a cursed race — Give her a lodge on a mountain side, And, when she is gone, on the hill provide The Queen of the Utes' last resting-place. But give her a page in history too, Though she be rotting in humble shrouds, And write on the whitest of God's white clouds Chipeta's name in eternal blue! Eugene Field. Chipeta by Eugene Field — Read by Eugene Field in Denver Colorado, at a meeting of the Colorado Press Asso- ciation desriptive of the Ute Chipeta's dash to save the captured survivors of the White River massacre. CON CREGAN'S LEGACY. CHARLES LOVER. I was born in a little cabin on the borders of Meath and King's County; it stood on a small triangular bit of ground, beside a crossroad, and although the place was surveyed every ten years or so, they were never able to say to which county we belonged, there being just the same number of 23 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. arguments for one side as for the other — a circumstance, many believed, that decided my father in his original choice of the residence; for while, under the ''disputed boundary question" he paid no rates or county cess, he always made a point of voting at both county elections. This may seem to indicate that my parent was of a naturally acute habit; and indeed the way he became possessed of the bit of ground will confirm that impression. There was nobody of the rank of gentry in the parish nor even "squireen;" the richest being a farmer, a snug old fellow, one Henry M'Cabe, that had two sons, who were always fighting between themselves which was to have the old man's money. Peter, the elder, doing everything to injure Mat, and Mat never backward in paying off the obligation. At last Mat, tired out in the struggle, resolved he would bear no more. He took leave of his father one night, and next day set off for Dublin, and 'listed in the "Buffs." Three weeks after, he sailed for India; and the old man, overwhelmed by grief, took to his bed, and never arose from it after. When, at last it was on a Sunday night all was still and quiet in the house; not a word, not a footstep, could be heard, no more than if it were uninhabited, the neighbors looked knowingly at each other, and wondered if the old man were worse if he were dead! It was a little after midnight that a knock came to the door of our cabin. I didn't speak, for I was frightened. Then came a cry"Con Cregan; Con I say, open the door! I want you." I knew the voice well; it was Peter M'Cabes': but I pretended to be a?leep, and snored loudly. My father unbolted the door, and I heard him say, "Oh, Mr. Peter, is the ould man worse ?" "Faix that's what he is! for he's dead!" "Glory be his bed! when did it happen?" "About an hour ago," said Peter, "he died like an ould haythen, Con, and never made a will!" "That's bad," says my father. "It is bad," said Peter; "but it would be worse if we 24 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. couldn't help it. Listen to me now, Corny, I want ye to help me in this business ; and here's five guineas in goold, if ye do what I bid ye. You know that ye were always reckoned the image of my father, and before he took ill ye were mistaken for each other every day of the week." "Anan!' said my father; for he was getting frightened at the notion, without well knowing why. "Well, what I want is, for ye to come over to the house, and get into the bed." "Not beside the corpse?" said my father, trembling. "By no means, but by yourself; and you're to pretend to be my father, and that ye want to make yer will before ye die ; and then I'll send for the neighbors, and Billy Scanlan the school master, and ye'll lell him what to write, laving all the farm and everything to me, — ye understand. ?" "The room must be very dark," says my father. To be sure it will, but have no fear! Nobody will dare to come nigh the bed; and ye'll only have to make a cross with yer pen under the name," Come along now, quick, for we've no time to lose; it must be all finished before the day breaks." My father did not lose much time at his toilet. I list- ened till they were gone some minutes ; and then set out after them, to watch the course of the adventure. I think I see the whole scene this instant before my eyes. It was a large room, at one end of which was a bed, and beside it a table; a little farther off was another table, at which sat Billy Scanlan, with all manner of writing materi- als before him. The country people, two and three deep sat round the walls. Peter went from place to place, help- ing the company to whiskey which was supplied with more than accustomed liberality. All my consciousness of the deceit and trickery could not deprive the scene of a certain solemnity ; as I looked, I actually shook with fear. Then in a silence where the buzzing of a fly would have been heard, my father said, "Where's Billy Scanlan ? I want to make my will." 25 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. "He's here, father," said Peter, leading Billy to the bedside. "Write what I bid ye, Billy, I die in peace with all my neighbors and all mankind." ' T bequeath unto my son Peter, — have you that down? The whole of my two farms of Killimundoonery and Knocksheboora. I give him, and much good may it do him, Lanty Cassarn's acre, and the Luary field, with the lime kiln; and that reminds me that my mouth is just as dry; let me taste what ye have in the jug." Here the dying man took a very hearty pull, and seemed considerably re- freshed by it. "Wheerdid I leave off Billy," says he, "oh, I remember, at the lime-kiln; I leave him the two pota- to gardens at Noonan's Well; and it is the elegant fine crops grows there." "Ain't you gettin' wake, father darlin'?" says Peter, who began to be afraid of my father's loquaciousness. "I am, Peter, my son," says he; "I am getting wake; just touch my lips again with the jug. Ah Peter, Peter, you watered the drink!" "No, indeed, father; but it's the taste is lavin' you," says Peter ; and again a low chorus of compassionate pity murmured through the cabin. "Well, I'm nearly done now. There's only one little plot of ground remaining; and I put it on you, that ye mind my last words to ye here. Are the neighbors listening?" "Yes, father. We're all minding," chorused the audience. "I say, then, I bequeath the little plot at the crossroads to poor Con Cregan ; as honest and hard-working a man as ever I knew, Peter dear; never let him want while ye have it yourself. Is it down, Billy Scanlan ? the two acres at the cross to Con Cregan, and his heirs in sec la sec- lorum. Ah, I feel my heart lighter after that, 'a good work makes an easy conscience' ; and now I'll drink all the com- pany's good health, and many happy returns." Peter who was now terribly frightened at the lively tone of the sick man, hurried the people into another room, to let his father die in peace. 26 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. When all were gone Peter slipped back to my father who was putting on his brogues in a corner; "Con," says he, "ye did it well but sure that was a joke about the two acres at the cross." "Of course it was Peter," says he; "sure it was all a joke for the matter of that; won't I make the neighbors laugh hearty to-morrow when I tell them all about it!" "You wouldn't be mean enough to betray me?" says Peter trembling with fright "Sure ye wouldn't be mean enough to go against yer father's dying words?" says my father, the last words ever he spoke ; and here my father gave a low, wicked laugh, that made myself shake with fear. "Very well, Con!" says Peter, holding out his hand; "A bargain's a bargain; ye'r a deep fellow, that's all!" and so it ended, and my father slipped quietly home over the bog well satisfied with the legacy he left himself. And thus we became the owners of the little spot known to this day as Con's Acre. DE LAWD 'LL SEE YO FROO. By Maurice Smiley. Sometimes de sky's got lots o' gray An' mighty little blue; But jes yo' keep a-peggi'n' 'way De Lawd '11 see yo' froo. Jes do yo' duty day by day; Da's all dat yo' kin do. Jes yo' keep a-peggin' 'way Be suh yo' don' fuhgit to pray; De Lawd '11 see yo' froo. Ah wen' to Him de othah day An' ast Him what to do. He said: "Yo' keep a-peggin' 'way An' Ah will see yo' froo." 27 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. Jes do yo' duty day by day, An' jes be good an' true. Jes yo' keep a-peggin' 'way . Be suh yo' don' fuhgit to pray; De Lawd '11 see yo' froo. A RIVER PASTORAL. By Clinton Scollard. It was a random rhymer Blithe-hearted as the May, Who plucked the flowering climber Along the river-way; It was the ferryman's daughter, With gypsy rose and tan, Who ferried o'er the water This straying minstrel-man. Her hair had purple tintings Above her sea-shell ear; Her eyes had starry glintings; Her laugh was lyric clear. He listened and he lingered — (His tryst was one with Fate!) Till eve the fairy-fingered Had shut day's sunset gate. Thus oft they met thereafter, At last no more to part; For Love (or was it laughter?) Had snared the rhymer's heart. And now upon life's ocean The twain together float; He's captain, — that's his notion! But she still steers the boat! 28 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. OVERRULED. The threads our hands in blindness spin No self-determined plan weaves in; The shuttle of the unseen powers Works out a pattern not as ours. Ah ! small the choice of him who sings What sound shall leave the smitten strings; Fate holds and guides the hand of art; The singer's is the servant's part. The wind-harp chooses not the tone That through its trembling threads is blown j The patient organ cannot guess What hand its passive keys shall press. Through wish, resolve, and act, our will Is moved by undreamed forces still ; And no man measures in advance His strength with untried circumstance. As streams take hue from shade and sun, As runs the life the song must run; But, glad or sad, to his good end God grant the varying notes may tend! John Greenleaf Whittier. ABDICATION. Almost noon! Silent and immovable There they stood, the troops of the Republic — In the sunbathed plaza. Before them rose The gleaming palace walls that for long years Had witnessed Spain's magnificence, waiting now, In audible hush, to see a great power die. Behind them thronged the eager populace; 29 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. Waiting in a hushed suspense as now they watched The road to La Vodade, and then turned wistful eyes Up to the flags that fluttering rose and fell From palace, forts and buildings of the public; Flags of flaunting yellow, crossed with bands Of crimson, deep and bright as life's hot blood; Flags that but typified, to those crushed hearts, Stern tyranny and heavy, dire oppression; Steeped in their vital fluid till a rain Fell, crimson on the gruesome street below With every shifting wind that stirred the folds, And heavy, dragging feet, leadlike were clogged With weary wading through the clotted gore. Far down the street a horseman came in view ! Another-aye-and still another! Till The Peace Commissioners, a body whole, Rode to the palace steps and there dismounted. The noon had come! That instant from within The palace walls, Spain's general advanced, Surrounded by his staff whose uniforms, A-glitter with magnificence, but mocked The sad and grieving hearts they covered o'er, Saluting with an innate courtesy That but a man can give his conquerors. Brave Castelanos spoke, as pale — ay, white Unto his very lips, he stood before them, His trembling tones revealing his deep grief; And in the name of Spain's Queen Regent, for Her little son, the King, he gave to those Whose power had proven greater, Cuba's isle. His generous foe with briefness answered him And in his turn a quick possession gave Unto the military governor. And now all eyes were fixed upon the flags. Four weary, weary centuries and more, 30 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. The Queen of all the Seas had borne the yoke. With bated breath they watched the drifting folds, And with the first, uncertain, downward move, Almost a sob broke from their quivering lips And echoed while the hated emblem fell. Yet still, they looked no other way until, With swift, protecting, gracious mien, Was flung out to the waiting ocean breeze Another banner, freedom starred and striped, Whose red and white and dotted field of blue, Reached out in benediction over this, The latest born. Hoarse, deep-voiced guns belched forth Their thunderous tones in eager, hearty welcome, And frenzied shouts of men, joy-maddened, answered them. There, silent, General Castelanos stood In all the clamorous tumult. Not a sound Broke from his lips. Still whiter, more like death. Had grown his pain-drawn face, when he had seen The emblem of his well-loved country fall To never rise again in that fair land. His eyes refused their office and his sight Was, by God's gracious mercy, sudden veiled By curtain of a strong man's bitter tears. And as the shouts of victory came loud And full, joy-laden, to his listening ears — Obeisance to the conqueror — , he turned With pathos in his gesture, broken voiced, Toward its representatives, and said, " Death has walked with me many, many times And I have known not fear; but now methinks "Twere but a welcome boon compared to this. You are my enemies, but unto him Who is the greatest one, would I not wish The sting, the grief, the anguish that is now So filling and consuming all my heart" Amid their great rejoicing, they, his foes, Gave homage to the man whose manhood bled, And tendered him their honest sympathy. 31 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. His footsteps passed down to the water's edge To well known music of his native land, Sent forth into the air by conqueror's breath; But as the little boat passed out upon The dancing, sunkissed waters of the bay, Was borne to him the grand and solemn notes Of Freedom's mighty hymn, — "America." The noon has passed! And in that sunny isle There reigns a better and a happier power. Dread Spain has loosed the galling, festering gyves, And Cuba, fair, unfettered — now is free. CORA GAINES CARREL HEROISM IN HOUSEKEEPING. Jane Welsh Carlyle. So many talents are wasted, so many enthusiasms turned to smoke, so many lives spoiled for want of a little patience and endurance, for want of understanding and laying to heart the meaning of The Present — for want of recognizing that it is not the greatness or littleness of the duty nearest hand, but the spirit in which one does it, which makes one's doing noble or mean! I can't think how people who have natural ambition, and any sense of power in them, escape going mad in a world like this, without the recognition of that, I know I was very near mad when I found it out for myself (as one has to find out for oneself everything that is to be of any real practical use to one.) Shall I tell you how it came into my head? Perhaps it may be of comfort to you in similar moments of fatigue and disgust. I had gone with my husband to live on a little estate of peat bog, that had descended to me all the way down from John Welsh, the Covenanter, who married a daughter of John Knox. That didn't, I'm ashamed to say, make me 32 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. feel Craigenputtock a whit less of a peat bog and a most dreary, untoward place to live at. In fact, it was sixteen miles distant on every side from all the conveniences of life, shops, and even post office. Further, we were very poor, and further and worst, being an only child, and brought up to great prospects, I was sublimely ignorant of every branch of useful knowledge, though a capital Latin scholar and a very fair mathematician. It behooved me in these astonishing circumstances to learn to sew. Husbands, I was shocked to find, wore their stockings into holes, and were always losing buttons, and I was expected "to look to all that," also it behooved me to learn to cook!" no capable servant' choosing to live at such an out-of-the-way place, and my husband having bad digest- ion, which complicated my difficulties dreadfully. The bread above all, brought from Dumfries "soured on his stomach" (O Heaven!) and it was plainly my duty as a Christian wife to bake at home. So I sent for Cobbett's "Cottage Economy." and fell to work at a loaf of bread. But knowing nothing about the process of fermentation or the heat of ovens, it came to pass that my loaf got put into the oven at the time that I myself ought to have been put into bed; and I remained the only person not asleep in a house in the middle of a desert. One o'clock struck! and then two!! and then three!!! And still I was sitting there in the midst of an immense soli- tude, my whole body aching with weariness, my heart aching with a sense of forlorness and degradation. That I, who had been so petted at home, whose comfort had been studied by everybody, in the house, who had never been required to do anything but cultivate my mind, should have to pass all those hours of the night in watching a loaf of bread which mightn't turn out bread after all! Such thoughts maddened me, till I laid down my head on the table and sobbed aloud. It was then that somehow the idea of Benvenuto Cellini sitting up all night watching his Perseues in the furnace came into my head, and suddenly I asked myself: "After all, in the sight of the upper Powers, what is the mighty difference 33 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. between a statue of Perseus and a loaf of bread, so that each be the thing that one's hand has found to do? The man's determined will, his energy, his patience his resource were the really admirable things of which, his statue of Perseus was the mere chance expression. If he had been a woman living at Craigenputtook with a dyspeptic husband, sixteen miles from a baker, and he a bad one, all these qualities would have come out more fitly in a good loaf of bread. !" I cannot express what consolation this germ of an idea spread over my uncongenial life during the years we lived at that savage place. TO MYSELF. Paul Fleming. Let nothing make thee sad or fretful Or too regretful; Be still! What God hath ordered must be right Then find in it thine own delight, My will. Why shouldst thou fill to-day with sorrow About to-morrow, My heart? One watches all with care most true: Doubt not that he will give thee too Thy part. Only be steadfast, never waver, Nor seek earth's favor, But rest; Thou knowest what God wills must be For all his creatures, so for thee, The best. 34 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. FAVORITE POEM. OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. However practical a man may be — however deeply he may be engrossed in pursuits that would seem to be almost as barren of poetry as a city pavement is of verdure, there is some chord in his heart that the right poet may strike and fill his soul with melody. There is scarcely a man in any walk of life who has not at some time in his life come upon a poem which seemed to voice his own ideals. In the private office of the President in the White House, hangs, in the handwriting of its author, a poem by the late Senator John J. Ingalls, of Kansas. The title of the poem is "Opportunity." This framed manuscript and a portrait of President Lincoln are the only objects on the walls of the apartments. OPPORTUNITY. John J. Ingalls. Master of human destinies am I! Fame, love and fortune on my footsteps wait, Cities and fields I walk: I penetrate Deserts and seas remote, and passing by Hovel and mart and palace, soon or late I knock unbidden once, at every gate! If feasting, rise; if sleeping, wake before I turn away. It is the hour of fate, And they who follow me reach every state Mortals desire, and conquer every foe Save death. But those who doubt or hesitate, Condemned to failure, penury and woe, Seek me in vain and ceaselessly implore; I answer not, and I return — no more. 35 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. JENNIE. Fred Emerson Brooks. "The sweetest lass in all the land Is Jennie, Jennie, Jennie!" Said Robin as he held each hand, Too many, many, many! 'Twas in the lane, the fence was high ; There was no room to pass him by; He held my wings, I could not fly; Not any, any. any! "How many sweethearts have you, pray, Sweet Jennie, Jennie, Jennie?" The rogue within me bade me say — Not many, many, many! But when I found it grieved the youth, I could no longer hide the truth, And said, not many was, forsooth, Not any, any, any! He said: "And would one sweetheart be Too many, many, many? Could you accept of one like me, My Jennie, Jennie, Jennie?" Let others think what'er they may, When Robin took my heart away, I had no heart to tell him nay, Not any, any, any! Although I never said he could Take any, any, any! He did just what I thought he would — Kiss Jennie, Jennie, Jennie! My lips were closed, I could not add, Nor count the kisses of the lad, And yet I hardly think he had Too many, many many! 36 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. ST. FRANCIS and THE BIRDS. From the Little Flowers of Saint Francis of Assisi. One day, when Saint Francis had preached to a great multitude of people, he lifted his eyes, and saw near the road some trees, whereon was a great company of birds, well-nigh without number, and immediately the good Saint said, "These, my little sisters, would also hear the word of God." So he bade his companions wait for him, and went into the field near by, and began to preach to the birds; and they flew close to him in great numbers to listen "to him, and all of them remained still and quiet together. And the old legend says that the sermon Saint Francis preached to the birds was this: "My little sisters, the birds, much bounden are ye unto God, your Creator, and always, in every place ought ye to praise Him for that He hath given you liberty to fly about everywhere, and hath also given you double and triple rainment, moreover. He preserved your seed in the Ark of Noah, that your race might not perish out of the world; still more are ye beholden to Him for the elemen t of the air which He hath appointed for you; beyond all this, ye sow not, neither do ye reap, and God feedeth you and giveth you the streams and fountains for your drink, the mountains and valleys for your refuge, and the high trees whereon to make your nests; and because ye know not how to spin or sew, God clotheth you, you and your children; wherefore, your Creator loveth you much, seeing that He hath bestowed 37 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. on you so many benefits; and therefore, my little sisters, beware of the sin of ingratitude, and study always to give praises unto God." Then the birds, by many signs and by their glad songs, showed Saint Francis that he had given them great joy, and Saint Francis rejoiced with them and wondered at their great numbers, their most beautiful diversity, their good heed and sweet friendliness and thanked God for them. Then Saint Francis blessed the birds, and one and all, with glad singing, rose up in the air and flew away toward the north and the south and the east and the west in great companies, and each flight went on its way singing wondrous songs. OLD FASHIONED PHILOSOPHY. J. A. Edgerton. Scorn not the homely virtues. We are prone To search through all the world for something new: And yet sometimes old-fashioned things are best — Old-fashioned work, old-fashioned rectitude, Old-fashioned honor and old-fashioned prayer, Old-fashioned patience that can bide its time, Old-fashioned firesides sacred from the world, Old-fashioned satisfaction with enough, Old-fashioned candor and simplicity, Old-fashioned folks that practice what they preach. THE OULD PLAID SHAWL. FRANCIS A. FAHY. Not far from old Knivara, in the merry month of May, When birds were singing cheerily, there came across my way, As if from out the sky above an angel chanced to fall, A little Irish cailin in an ould plaid shawl. 38 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. She tripped along right joyously, a basket on her arm; And oh! her face, and, oh! her grace the soul of saint would charm; Her brown hair rippled o'er her brow, but the greatest charm of all Was her modest blue eyes beaming 'neath her ould plaid shawl. I courteously saluted her, "God save you, miss," says I; "God save you, kindly sir," said she, and shyly passed me by; Off went my heart along with her a captive in her thrall, Imprisoned in the corner of her ould plaid shawl. Enchanted with her beauty rare, I gazed in pure delight, Till round an angle of the road she vanished from my sight; But ever since I sighing say, as I that scene recall, The grace of God about you and your ould plaid shawl. I've heard of highway robbers that, with pistols and with knives, Make trembling travelers yield them up their money or their lives, But think of me that handed out my heart and head and all To a simple little Cailin in an ould plaid shawl. Oh! graceful the mantillas that the signorinas wear, And tasteful are the bonnets of Parisian ladies fair, But never cloak, or hood or robe, in palace, bow'r' or hall, Clad half such witching beauty as that ould plaid shawl. Oh! some men sigh for riches, and some men live for fame, And some on history's pages hope to win a glorious name; My aims are not ambitious, and my wishes are but small, You might wrap them all together in an ould plaid shawl. I'll seek her all through Galway, and I'll seek her all through Clare, I'll search for tale or tidings of my traveler, everywhere, For peace of mind I'll never find until my own I call That little Irish Cailin in her ould plaid shawl. 39 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. TACT AND TALENT. From the "London Atlas". TALENT is something, but tact is everything. Talent is serious, sober, grave and respectabe; tact is all that and more too. It is not a sixth sense, but it is the life of all the five. It is the open eye, the quick ear, the judging taste, the keen smell, and the lively touch ; it is the interpre- ter of all riddles, the surmounter of all difficulties, the re- mover of all obstacles. It is useful in all places, and at all times; it is useful in solitude , for it shows a man his way into the world; it is useful in society, for it shows him his way through the world. Talent is power, tact is skill; talent is weight, tact is mo- mentum: talent knows what to do, tact knows how to do it; talent makes a man respectable, tact will make him re- spected ; talent is wealth, tact is ready money. For all the practical purposes of life, tact carries it against talent, ten to one. Take them to the theatre, and put them against each other on the stage, and talent shall produce you a tragedy that will scarcely live long enough to be condemed while tact keeps the house in a roar, night after night, with its successful farces. There is no want of dramatic talent, there is no want of dramatic tact ; but they are seldom to- gether; so we have successful pieces which are not respect- able and respectable pieces which are not successful. Take them to the bar, and let them shake their learned curls at each other in legal rivalry. Talent sees its way clearly, but tact is first at its journey's end. Talent has many a compliment from the bench, but tact touches fees from attorney and clients. Talent speaks learnedly and logically tact triumphantly. Talent makes the world wonder that it gets on no faster, tact excites astonishment that it gets on so fast. And the secret is, that tact has no weight to carry; it makes no false steps, it hits the right nail on the head; it loses no time; it takes all hints; and by keeping its eye on the weathercock, is ready to take advantage of every wind that blows. Take them into the church. Talent has always some- thing worth hearing, tact is sure of abundance of hearers ; talent may obtain a good living, tact will make one; talent 40 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. gets a good name, tact gets a great one, talent convinces, tact converts; talent is an honor to the profession, tact gains honor from the profession. Place them in the senate. Talent has the ear of the house but tact wins its heart, and has its votes; talent is fit for employment, but tact is fitted for it. Tact has a knack of slipping into place with a sweet silence and glibness of move- ment, as a billiard ball insinuates itself into the pocket. It seems to know everything, without learning anything. It has served an invisible and extemporary apprenticeship; it wants no drilling; it never ranks in the awkward squad it has no left hand, no deaf ear, no blind side. It puts on no look of wondrous wisdom, it has no air of profundity but plays with the details of place as dexterously as a well taught hand flourishes over the pianoforte. It has all the air of commonplace, and all the force and power of genius. THE WIND AND THE MOON. George MacDonald. Said the Wind to the Moon "I will blow you out You stare, In the air, Like a ghost in a chair Always looking what I am about I hate to be watched: I'll blow you out." The wind blew hard and out went the moon So deep On a heap Of cloudless sleep. Down lay the Wind and slumbered soon, Mattering low "I've done for that moon." 41 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. He turned in his bed, she was there again On high In the sky With her ghost eye. The moon shone white, and alive, and plain, Said the wind. "I'll blow you out again. The wind blew hard and the moon grew dim; "With my sledge And my wedge I have knocked off her edge If only I blow right fierce and grim The creature will soon be dimmer than dim." He blew and he blew and she thinned to a thread "One puff More's enough To blow her to snuff One good — puff more where the last was bred And glimmer, glum will go the thread." He blew a great blast and the thread was gone. In the air Nowhere Was a moonbeam bare; Far off and harmless the sky stars shone; Sure and certain the Moon was gone. THE WITCH IN THE GLASS. Sarah M. B. Piatt. "My mother says I must not pass Too near that glass ; She is afraid that I will see A little witch that looks like me, With red, red mouth to whisper low The very thing I should not know!" 42 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. "Alack for all your mother's care! A bird of the air, A wistful wind, or (I suppose, Sent by some hapless boy) a rose, With breath too sweet, will whisper low The very thing you should not know." THE STORY OF DAMON AND PYTHIAS. Most of the best and noblest of the Greeks held what was called the Pythagorean philosophy. Pythagoras lived before the time of history, and almost nothing is known about him, though his teaching and his name were never lost. There is a belief that he lived about the time of the dispersion of the Israelites. One thing is plain, that even in dealing with heathenism the Divine rule holds good. "By their fruits ye shall know them." Golden deeds are only to be found among men whose belief is earnest and sincere. The Pythagoreans were bound together in a brotherhood, and they were taught to restrain their passions, especially that of anger, and to endure with patience all kinds of suffering; believing that such self- restraint brought them nearer to the gods, and that death would free them from the prison of the body. In the end of the fourth century before the Christian era, two friends of this Pythagorean sect, lived at Syra- cuse, which was a great city built in Sicily and full of all kinds of Greek art and learning. It had fallen under the control of Dionysius, a capricious tyrant, but as he was an exceedingly able man he made the city more rich and powerful. He was a good scholar, and very fond of philo- sophy and poetry, but the sense that he was in a posi- tion that did not belong to him, and that everyone hated him for assuming it, made him very harsh and suspicious. Of him is told that famous anecdote which has become a proverb, that on hearing a friend, named Damocles, ex- press a wish to be in his situation for a single day, he took him at his word, and Damocles found himself at a ban- quet with everything that could delight his senses, de- 43 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. licious food, costly wine, flowers, perfumes, music; but with a sword's point almost touching his head, and hanging by a single horse-hair! This was to show the Condition in which a usurper lived. Among those who came under the anger of Dionysius, was a Pythagorean called Pythias, who was sentenced to death. He had lands and relations in Greece and he en- treated as a favor to be allowed to return thither and ar- range his affairs, engaging to return within a specified time to suffer death. The tyrant scorned his request. Once safe out of Sicily, who would answer for his return? Pythias replied that he had a friend who would become security for his return. Dionysius who trusted nobody was ready to scoff at his simplicity, when another Pyhthag- orean, by name Damon came forward and promised if Pyth- ias did not return, to suffer death in his stead. Diony- ius much astonished, consented to let Pythias go. Time went on and Pythias did not appear. The Syracusans watched Damon but he showed no signs of uneasiness. He said he was sure of his friend's truth and honor, and if by any accident his return had been delayed, he should re- joice in dying to save the life of one who was so dear to him. Even to the last day Damon continued serene and content. When the very hour drew nigh and still no Pythias, his trust was so perfect, that he did not even grieve at having to die for a faithless friend who had left him to the fate to which he had unwarily pledged himself. He declared it was owing to the wind and waves that his friend had not returned. The hour had come, and a few moments more would have ended Damon's life when Py- thias presented himself, embraced his friend, and stood forward to receive his sentence, calm, resolute, and rejoiced that he had come in time. Dionysius looked on more struck than ever. He felt that neither of such men must die. He reversed the sentence of Pythias, and calling the two to his judgement seat, he entreated them to admit him as a third in their friendship. Yet all the time he must have known it was a mockery that he should ever be such as they were to each other — he who had lost the very 44 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. power of trusting, and constantly sacrificed others to secure his own life whilst they counted not their lives dear to them in comparision with their truth to their word and love to one another. No wonder that Damon and Pyh- ias have become such a byword that they seem too well known to have their story told, except that sometimes a name is mentioned by those who have forgotten or never heard the tale attached to it. "Charlotte M. Yonge." THE ROAD TO YOU. (FROM "THE OMAR SONNETS AND THE LEFRA LYRICS.") {Translated by Oliver Opp Dyke.) I There's a road to heaven, a road to hell, A road for the sick and one for the Well, There's a road for the false and a road for the true, But the road for me is the road to you. ii. There's a road through prairie and forest and glen, A road to each place in human ken, There's a road over earth and a road over sea, But the road to you is the road for me. in. There's a road for animal, bird, and beast, A road for the greatest, a road for the least, There's a road that is old and a road that is new, But the road for me is the road to you. IV There's a road for the heart, and a road for the soul, There's a j oad for a part and a road for the whole, There's a road for love — which few ever see — 'Tis the road to you and the road for me. Permission from Oliver Opp Dyke. 45 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. OPPORTUNITY. Walter Malone. They do me wrong who say I come no more, When once I knock and fail to find you in ; For every day I stand outside your door And bid you wake and rise to fight and win. Wail not for precious chances passed away, Weep not for golden ages on the wane, Each night I burn the records of the day At sunrise every soul is born again. Laugh like a boy at splendors that have fled, To vanished joys be blind, and deaf and dumb. My judgments seal the dead past with its dead But never bind a moment yet to come. Though deep in mire, wring not your hands and weep I lend my arm to all who say "I can." No shamefaced outcast ever sank so deep But yet might rise and be again a man. Dos't thou behold thy lost youth all aghast, Dost reel from righteous retribution's blow, Then turn from blotted archives of the past And find the future's pages white as snow. Art thou a mourner? Rouse thee from thy spell, Art thou a sinner ? Sins may be forgiven. Each morning gives thee wings to flee from hell, Each night a star to guide thy feet to heaven. 4Q ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. A BUILDER'S LESSON. John Boyle O' Reilly, "How shall I a habit break?" As you did that habit make, As you gathered, you must lose; As you yielded, now refuse. Thread by thread the strands we twist Till they bind us neck and wrist; Thread by thread the patient hand Must untwine ere free we stand; As we builded, stone by stone, We must toil unhelped, alone, Till the wall is overthrown. But remember, as we try, Lighter every test goes by; Wading in, the stream grows deep Toward the center's downward sweep ; — Backward turn, each step ashore Shallower is than that before. Ah, the precious years we waste Leveling what we raised in haste; Doing what must be undone, Ere content or love be won! First across the gulf we cast Kite-born threads, till lines are passed, And habit builds the bridge at last! ANNER LIZER'S STUMBLING BLOCK. Paul Laurence Dunbar. It was winter. The gray old mansion of Mr. Robert Selfridge, of Fayette County, Ky., was wrapped in its usual mantle of winter sombreness, and the ample plantation stretching in every direction thereabout was one level plain of unflecked whiteness. At a distance from the house the 47 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. cabins of the negroes stretched away in a long, broken black line that stood out in bold relief against the extreme white- ness of their surroundings. About the centre of the line, as dark and uninviting as the rest, with its wide chimney of scrap limestone turning clouds of dense smoke into the air, stood a cabin. Within its confines lived and thrived the heroine of this story. Of all the girls of the estate, Anner 'Lizer was, without dispute conceded to be the belle. Her black eyes were like glowing coals in their sparkling brightness: her teeth were like twin rows of pearls shining ivories ; her brown skin was as smooth and soft as silk. Was it any wonder, then that Sam Merritt strapping, big Sam, than whom there was not a more popular man on the estate — should pay devoted court to her ? And so, natur- ally, people began to connect their names, and the rumor went forth, as rumours will, that the two were engaged. But when did the course of true love ever run smooth? There was never a time but there were some rocks in its channel around which the little stream had to glide o rover which it had to bound and bubble; and thus it was with the loves of our young friends. But in this case the crystal stream seemed destined neither to bound over nor glide by the obstacle in its path, but rather to let its merry course be checked thereby. It may at first, seem a strange thing to say but it was nevertheless true, that the whole sweep and torrent of the trouble had rise in the great religious revival that was being enthusiastically carried on at the little Baptist meeting-house. There was no more regular attend- ant at these meetings, than Anner 'Lizer. The weirdness of the scene and the touch of mysticism in the services though, of course, she did not analyse it thus — reached her emotional nature and stirred her being to its depths. Night after night found her in her pew, her large eyes follow- ing the minister, seemed to look through him to the regions he was describing — the harp-ringing heaven of bliss, or the fire-filled home of the damned. 48 ENTFRTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. Now Sam, on the other hand, could not be induced to attend these meetings; and when his fellow-servants were at the little church praying, singing, and shouting, he was to be found sitting in one corner of his cabin picking his banjo or scouring the woods, carrying axe and taper, and, with a dog trotting atfhis heels hunting for that venison of the negro palate — coon. Of course, this utter irreverence on the part of her lover shocked Anner 'Lizer; but she let Sam go his way with reluctance while she went to church unattended. But she thought of Sam and when she secretly prayed to get reli- gion she added a prayer that she might retain him. He, the rogue* was a pronounced sceptic, and day by day the breach between them widened until the span that connected their hearts snapped asunder on the night Anner 'Lizer went to the mourner's bench. She had not gone to church with that intention; But that night when the preacher had said in his softest tones, "Now come, won't you sinnahs ? Won' t you tek de chance o'becomin j'int 'ars o'dat beautiful city whar de streets is gol' an' de gates is pearl," she lost herself and going forward she dropped at the altar amid cries of "Bless de Lawd, one mo' recruit fu' de Gospel ahmy." The conquest of Anner 'Lizer was an event of great moment and called forth a deal of discussion among the brothers and sisters. Aunt Hannah remarked to Aunt Maria over the back of the seat that she "Nevah knowed de gal was unner c'nviction." And Aunt Maria answered solemnly, "You know, sistah, de Lawd wuks in a myste'ious wa,y his wondahs to u' fo'm," Meanwhile the hymn went on, and above it rose the voice of the minister: We want all de Christuns in de house to draw up aroun' de altah, whar de fiah is bu'nin; you know in de wintah time when hit's col' you crowds up clost to de fiahplace; so now ef you wants to git spi'tually wa'am, you mus' be up whar de fiah is." There was a great scrambling and shuffling of feet as the members rose with one accord to crowd, singing, around the altar. Two of the rude benches had been placed end to end before the pulpit, so 49 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. that they, extended nearly the full width of the little church; and at these knelt a dozen or more mourners, swaying and writhing under the burden of their sins. The song being ended, the preacher said: "Brer Adams, please tek up de cross," Then Brer Adams a white-haired patriarch, knelt and "took up the cross." He prayed "Lawd 'come down dis evenin' in Spirit's powah to seek an' to save — ah; oh, Lawd convert mou'nahs an' convict' sinnahs — ah — show em dat dey mus' die an' caint lib an atter death to judg-a-ment; tu'n em aroun' befo' it is evahlastin' an' eternally too late." By this time every one was worked up to high state of excitement, and the prayer came to an end amid great commotion. Then a rich mellow voice led out with: Sabe de mou'nah jes 'now, Sabe de mou'nah jes 'now, Sabe de mou'nah jes 'now, Only trust Him jes' now, Only trust Him jes 'now, He'p de sinnah jes' now." and so to indefinite length the mournful minor melody ran along like a sad brook flowing through autumn woods trying to laugh and ripple through tears. Every now and then some mourner would spring half up, with a shriek, and then sink down again trembling and jerking spasmodically. "He's a doubtin ; he's a-doubtin' ! the cry would fly around; "but I tell you he purt' nigh had it that time." Finally the slender form of Anner 'Lizer began to sway backward and forward like a sapling in the wind, and she began to mourn and weep aloud. "Praise de Lawd!" shouted Aunt Hannah, "De po' soul's gettin de evidence: Keep on, honey, de Lawd aint fa' off — " Let us bow down fu' a season of silent praar," said the min- ister The silence that ensued was continually broken by the wavering wail of the mourners. One by one the mourners left the bench, on which figuratively speaking, they may be said to have laid down their sins and proclaimed themselves 50 ENTERTAINED AND ENTERTAINED. possessors of religion, until finally there was but one left, and that one — Anner 'Lizer. She had ceased from her violent activity, and seemed perfectly passive now. The efforts of all were soon consentrated on her, but Anner' Lizer was immovable with her face lying against the hard bench, she moaned and prayed softly to herself. The congregation redoubled its exertions, but all, to no effect, Anner 'Lizer wouldn't "come thoo." It was a strange case. Aunt Maria whispered to her bosom friend: You min' me, Sistah Hannah, deres' sump'n' on dat gal's min." And Aunt Hannah answered: "I believe you." Josephine or Phiny a former belle, whom Anner Lizer's superior charms had deposed, could not lose this opportunity to have a fling at her successful rival. Of course such cases of vindictiveness in women are rare, and Phiny was ex- ceptional when she whispered to her fellow -servant Lucy: "I reckon she'd git 'ligion if Sam Me'itt was heah to see her. "Lucy snickered, as in duty bound, and whispered back : "I wish'd you'd heish" — But the time came for closing the meeting and Anner 'Lizer had not yet made a profession. She was lifted tenderly up from the mourner's bench by a couple of sisters, and after exhortation to "Pray constantly thoo de day, an' thoo de night, in de highways an' de by- ways an' in yo secret closet", she went home praying in her soul, leaving the rest of the congregation to loiter along the way and gossip over the night's events. 51 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. ANNER 'LIZER 'S STUMBLING BLOCK. PART II. All the next day Anner Lizer, erstwhile so cheerful, went about her work sad and silent ; every now and then stopping in the midst of her labors and burying her face in her neat white apron to sob violently. It was true, as Aunt Hannah expressed, that "de spirit had sholy tuk holt of dat gal wid a powahful han'". All of her fellow-servants knew that she was a mourner, and with that characteristic reverence for religion which is common to all their race, they respected her feelings. Phiny, alone, when she met her, tossed her head and gig- gled openly. But Phiny's actions never troubled Anner 'Lizer, for she felt herself so far above her. Once though, in the course of the day, she had been somewhat disturbed when she had suddenly come upon her rival, standing in the spring-house talking and laughing with Sam. She noticed too, with a pang, that Phiny had tried a bow of red ribbon on her hair. She shut her lips and only prayed the harder. But an hour later, somehow, a ribbon as red as Phiny's had miraculously attached itself to her thick black plaits. Was the temporal creeping in with the spiritual in Anner Lizer's mind ? Who can tell ? Perhaps she thought that, while cultivating the one, she need not utterly neglect the other; and who says but that she was right? Uncle Eben, however did not take this view of the matter when he came hobbling up in the afternoon to exhort her a little. He found Anner Lizer in the kitchen washing dishes. En- grossed in the contemplation of her spiritual state, or pray- ing for deliverance from the same, through the whole day she had gone about without speaking to anyone. But with Uncle Eben it was, of course, different; for he was a man held in high respect by all the negroes and, next to the mi- nister, the greatest oracle in those parts; so Anner Lizer spoke to him. "Howdy, Uncle' Eben" she said in a lugubrious tone, as 52 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. the old man hobbled in and settled down in a convenient corner. "Howdy, honey, howdy," he replied crossing one leg over the other, as he unwound his long bandana, placed it in his hat, and then deposited his heavy cane on the white floor. "I jes' thought I'd drop in to ax you how do you do to-day?" 'To' enough Unci' Eben, fu' shoo." Aint foun' no res' fu' yo' soul yit?" "No res' yit," answered Anner Lizer, again applying the apron to her already swollen eyes. "Um-m" sighed the old man, meditatively tapping his foot; and then the gay flash of Anner Lizer 's ribbon caught his eye and he gasped: "Bless de Lawd, Sis' Lizer; you don't mean to tell me dat you's gwin' bout heah seekin' wid yo' har tied up in ribbon ? Whut? Tek it off, honey, tek it off; ef yo' wants yo soul saved, tek it off!" Anner 'Lizer hesitated, and raised her eyes in momentary protest; but they met the horrified gaze of the old man, and she lowered them again as her hand went reluctantly up to her head to remove the offending bit of finery. "You see, honey," Uncle Eben went on, when you sta'ts out in de Christian jou'ney, you's got to lay aside evry weight dat doeth so easy beset you an' keeps you f'on pergressin;' y'aint got to think nothin 'bout pussunal 'dornment; you's jes' got to shet yo' eyes an' open yo' hea't an' say, Lawd, come; you mustn't wait fu' to go to chu'ch to pray, nuther, you mus' pray anywhar an' ev'rywhar Why, when I was seek'in, I ust to go' 'way off up in de big woods to pray an dere's whur de Lawd answered' me, an' I'm a rejoicin' to-day in de powah of de same salvation. Honey, you's got to pray, I tell you. You's got to brek de back- bone of yo' pride an' pray in earnes'; an' ef you does dat, you'll git he'p, fur de Lawd is a praar-heahin Lawd an plentious in mussy." Anner 'Lizer listened attentively to the exhortation, and evidently profited by it; for soon after Uncle Eben' depart- ure she changed her natty little dress for one less pretentious, 53 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. and her dainty frilled white muslin apron gave way to a broad dark calico one. If grace was to be found by self- abnegation in the matter of dress, Anner 'Lizer was bound to have it at any price. As afternoon waned and night came on, she grew more and more serious, and more frequent recourse was had to the corner of her apron. She even failed to see Phiny when that enterprising young person passed her, decked out in the whitest of white cuffs and collars, setting off in pleasant contrast her neat dark dress. Phiny giggled again and put up her hand, ostensibly to brush some imaginary dust from her bosom, but really to show her pretty white cuffs with their big bone buttons. But it was all lost on Anner 9 Lizer; her gaze was downcast and her thoughts faraway. If any one was ever "seekin"' in earnest, this girl was. Night came, and with it the usual services. Anner 'Lizer was one of the earliest of the congregation to arrive, and she went immediately to the mourner's bench. In the language of the congregation, "Eldah Johnsing sholy did preach a powahful sermon" that night. More sinners were convicted and brought to their knees, and as before, these recruits were converted and Anner 'Lizer left. What was the matter? That was the question which every one asked, but there was none found who could answer it. The cir- cumstance was all the more astounding from the fact that this unsuccessful mourner had not been a very wicked girl. Indeed it was to have been expected that she might shake her sins from her shoulders as she would discard a mantle, and step over on the Lord's side, But it was not so' But when a third night came and passed with the same result it became the talk of theee plantations. To be sure cases were not lacking where people had "mourned" a week, two weeks, or even a month; but they were woful sinners and those were times of less spiritual interest; but under circumstances so favorable as were now presented, that one could long refrain from gittin' religion was the wonder of all. So, after the third night, everybody wondered and tal- 54 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. ked, and not a few began to lean to Phiny's explanation, that "de ole snek in de grass had be'n a-goin' on doin' all her dev'ment on de sly so's people wouldn't know it. but de Lawd he did, an' he payin' her up fo' it now," Sam Mer- ritt alone did not talk, and seemed perfectly indifferent to all that was said, when he was in Phiny's company and she rallied him about the actions of his "gal" he remained silent. On the fourth night of Anner 'Lizer's mourning, the con- gregation gathered as usual at the church. For the first half -hour all went on as usual, and the fact that Anner Lizer was absent caused no remark, for every one thought she would come in later. But time passed and she did not come. "Eldah Johnsing's" flock became agitated. Of course there were other mourners, but the one particular one was absent; hence the dissatif action. Every head in the house was turned toward the door, whenever it was opened hy some late comer, and around flew the whisper, I wunner ef she's quit mournin ; you ain't heerd of her gittiV ligion, have you?" No one had. Meanwhile the object of their solicitude was praying 'just the same, but in a far different place. Grasping as she was, at everything that seemed to give her promise of relief, somehow Uncle Eben's words had had a deep effect upon her So when night fell and her work was over, she had gone up into the woods to pray. She had prayed long without success, and now she was crying aloud from the very ful- ness of her heart; O Lawd, sen' de light — sen' de light!" Suddenly, as if in answer to her prayer a light appeared before her, some distance away. The sudden attainment of one's desires often shocks one, so with our mourner. For a moment her heart stood still and the thought came to her to flee ; but her mind flashed back over the words of one of the hymns she had heard down at church, "Let us walk in de light;" and she knew that before she walked in the light she must walk toward it. So she rose and started in the direction of the light. How it flickered and flared, dis- appeared and reappeared, rose and fell, even as her spirits, 55 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. as she stumbled and groped her way over fallen logs and through briers. Her limbs were bruised and her dress torn hy the thorns. But she headed it not, she had fixed her eye, physical and spiritual on the light before her. It drew her with an irresistible fascination. Suddenly she stopped. An idea had occured to her! Maybe this light was a Jack- o'-lantern! For a moment she hesitated, then promptly turned her pocket inside out, murmuring, "De Lawd'll tek keer o' me." On she started; but lo! the light had disappeared! What! had the turning of the pocket worked so potent a charm. But no! it reappeared as she got beyond the intervention of a brush pile which had obscured it. The light grew brighter as she grew fainter; but she clasped her hands and raised her eyes in unwavering faith, for she found that the beacon did not recede, but glowed with a steady and sta- tionary flame. As she drew near, the sound of sharp strokes came to her ears, and she wondered. Then, as she slipped into the narrow circle of light, she saw that it was made by a taper which was set on a log. The strokes came from a man who was chopping down a tree in which a coon seemed to have taken refuge. It needed no second glance at the stalwart shoulders to tell her that the man was — Sam Her step attracted his attention, and he turned. "Sam!" "Anner 'Lizer!" And then they both stood still, too amazed to speak. Finally she walked across to where he was standing, and said "Sam I didn't come out heah to fin' you, but de Lawd has 'p'inted it so, ca'se he knowed I orter speak to you." Sam learned hopelessly on his axe; he thought she was going to exhort him, Anner 'Lizer went on "Sam, you's my stumblin' block in de highroad to salvation, I'se bin tryin to git ligion, fu fou nights, an' I caint do it jes' on yo' 'count: I prays an I prays, an jes' as I's a'mos' got it, jes, as I begin to heah de cha'iot wheels a-rollin' yo' face comes right in 'tween an' drives it all away. Tell me, now, Sam, so's to 56 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. put me out ov my 'spense, does you want to ma'y me, er is you goin' to ma'y Phiny ? I jes' wants you to tell me, not dat I keers pussonally, but so's my min' kin be at res' spi'tu'lly, an' I kin git 'ligion. Jes' say yes er no; I wants to be settled one way er t' orther." "Anner 'Lizer," said Sam reproachfully, "you know I wants to ma'y you jes' ez soon ez Ma's Rob'll let me." "Dere now" said Anner 'Lizer, "bless de Lawd!" And. somehow, Sam had dropped the axe and was holding her in his arms. It boots not whether the 'coon was caught that night or not, but it is a fact that Anner 'Lizer set the whole place afire by getting religion at home early the next morning. And the same night the minister announced "dat de Lawd had foun' out de sistuh's stumblin' block an' removed it f'om de path." HOW TO ASK AND HAVE. "Oh, 'tis time I should talk to your mother Sweet Mary," says I; "Oh don't talk to my mother" says Mary Beginning to cry, "For my mother says men are deceivers, And never, I know, will consent; She says girls in a hurry who marry At leisure repent." "Then suppose I would talk to your father, Sweet Mary," says I; "Oh, don't talk to my father," says Mary Beginning to cry, "For my father, he loves me so dearly, He'll never consent I should go; If you talk to my father," says Mary, "He'll surely say 'no' ". 57 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. "Then how shall I get you my jewel ?, Sweet Mary," says I; "If your father and mother's so cruel, Most surely I'll die!" "Oh, never say die dear," says Mary, "A way now to save you I see; Since my parents are both so contrary You'd better ask me." Samuel Lover HERSELF AND MYSELF. P. J. McCall. 'Twas beyond at Macreddin, at Owen Doyle's weddin', The boys got the pair of us out for a reel, Says I: 'Boys excuse us," Says they,' "Don't refuse us;" "I'll play nice and aisy, says Larry O' Neill." So off we went trippin' it, up and down steppin' it — Herself and Myself on the back of the doore Till Molly — God bless her! fell into the dresser, An I tumbled over a child on the floore. Says Herself to Myself :"We're as good as the best o' them!" Says Myself to Herself: "Shure, we're betther than gold!" Says Herself to Myself: "We're as young as the rest o'them," Says Myself to Herself: "Troth, we'll never grow old'" As down the lane goin, I felt my heart growin', As young as it was forty-five years ago, Twas here in this bo'reen I first kissed my stoireen A sweet little colleen with skin like the snow. I looked at my woman, a song she was hummin' As old as the hills, so I gave her a pogue ; 'Twas like our old courtin,' half sarious, half sportin'. When Molly was young, an' when hoops were in vogue. 58 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. When she'd say to Myself: "You can coort with the best o them," When I'd say to Herself: "Shure, I'm betther than gold," When she'd say to Myself: "You're as wild as the resto' them," And I'd say to Herself: "Troth I'm time enough old." WAIT 'TILL TO-MORROW Philip B. Strong. Ere you speak the word of blame, Ere you punish deed by deed, That you neither sin nor sorrow Give this simple sentence heed, "Wait 'till to-morrow." When wild impulse stirs the soul, Stay! my motto's merit prove, Counsel from it freely borrow; Would you well and wisely move, "Wait 'till to-morrow." Times there are at once to act, Nor a moment to defer; Yet more oft both sin and sorrow Haste doth work; I still aver — "Waif till to-morrow." MY TRUST. A picture memory brings to me; I look across the years and see Myself beside my mother's knee. I feel her gentle hand restrain My selfish moods, and know again A child's blind sense of wrong and pain. 59 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. But wiser now, a man gray grown, My childhood's needs are better known, My mother's chastening love I own. Gray grown, but in our Father's sight A child still groping for the light To read his words and ways aright. I wait, in His good time to see That as my mother dealt with me So with His children dealeth He. I bow myself beneath His hand ; That pain itself was wisely planned I feel and partly understand. The joy that comes in sorrow's guise, The sweet pains of self-sacrifice, I would not have them otherwise. And what were life and death if sin Knew not the dread rebuke within, The pang of merciful discipline? Not with thy proud despair of old, Crowned stoic of Rome's noblest mold, Pleasure and pain alike I hold. I suffer with no vain pretence Of triumph over flesh and sense, Yet trust the grievous providence; How dark soe'er it seems, may tend, By ways I cannot comprehend, To some unguessed benignant end; That every loss and lapse may gain The clear-aired heights by steps of pain, And never cross is borne in vain. J. G. WHITTIER 60 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. LOVES PERPLEXITY. T. H. Farnham. They grew in beauty, like two flowers: One as a lily fair, The other radiant as the rose That breathes the summer air. Maria's was the statelier form, Blanche's the sweeter face; Maria wore a queenly air, And Blanche a simple grace. Although Maria's shape surpassed All forms I e'er had seen, Her sister Blanche at times possessed The more bewitching mien. Maria's eyes were lustrous black, But Blanche's eyes of blue Reflected in their liquid depths The tints of heaven's own hue. And then Maria's voice excelled That of a prima donna In her own art, such gifts of song Had nature lavished on her. While Blanche's skilful touch displayed Such marvelous command, You thought the key-board felt the thrill Of Paderewski's hand. I fairly worshipped Blanche — but then I equally adored Maria; — to which one of these Should I my choice accord? 61 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. Such paragons of excellence! — ■ I could but sigh and say, "How happy could I be with one, Were the other but away!" Embarras de richesse, indeed, With either for a bride ! — Strive as I would, I still remained Unable to decide. But while I pondered, sore distressed, In dire perplexity, As if from such a woeful plight To kindly set me free, A fate propitious gave to each A more decided lover: — An English lord bore off the one, A German count the other. THE STORY OF A GARDEN. "Nature, as far as in her lies, imitates God." tennyson There is a garden that is not like the other gardens round about. In many of these gardens the flowers are only pris- oners, forced to weave carpets on the changeless turf, and when the eye is sated and the impression fails, they become to their owners, who have no part in them, merely purchased episodes. This garden that I know has a bit of green, a space of flowers, and a stretch of wildness, as Bacon says a garden should always have. At its birth the twelve months each gave to it a gift, that it might always yield an offering to the year, and presently it grew so lovable that there came to it a soul. The song-sparrow knows that this is so; the mottled owl 62 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. that lives in the hollow sassafras has told it to the night- hawk, Catbirds and robins, routed from other gardens by fusillades, still their quick throbbing hearts, feeling its pro- tection. The coward crow alone knows its exclusion, for he was unhoused from the tall pines and banished for fratricide. The purling bluebird, claiming the pole-top house as an an- cestral bequest, repeats the story every springtime. The oriole and swallow whisper of it in their southward course, and, returning, bring with them willing colonists. The rock polypody creeps along in confidence, with no ruthless hand to strip it off, and the first hepatica opens its eyes in safety, for tongues of flame or the grub-axe have not crippled it during the winter. Once the petted garden beauties looked askance, from their smooth beds in the tilled corner, and drew their skirts away from the wild-wood company, but now, each receiving according to its need, they live in perfect concord. The wild rose in the chinky wall peeps shyly at her glowing sisters, and the goldenrod bows over it to gossip with the pentstemon. And this is how it came to be, for the garden was no haphazard acci- dent. Nature began it, and, following her master-touch, the hand and brain of a man, impelled by a reverent pur- pose, evolved its shaping. This man, even when a little boy, had felt the potency of Nature's touch to sooth the heartache. One day, led by an older mate, he trudged a weary way to see a robber hanged. The child, not realizing the scene he was to witness, was shocked to nervous frenzy, and a pitying bystander, thinking to divert his mind, gave him a shilling. Spying a bird pedlar in the crowd, he bought a goldfinch and a pint of seeds, and the horror of the hanging was quite forgotten and effaced by the little bird, his first possession. To it he gave his confidence and told all his small griefs and joys, and through the bird Nature laid her warm hand on his heart and gently drew it toward their mutual Master, and never after did he forget her consolation. All this was more than seventy years ago. When the boy grew to manhood, following the student life, the spirit of 63 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. the bird that had blotted out the scene of civil murder was still with him. Its song kept his thoughts single and led him toward green fields, that their breath might leaven lifeless things, strengthening the heart that felt a world weariness, as all must feel at times when facing human limitations. MABEL OSGOOD WRIGHT WAR. By Alfred J. Waterhouse. Strike from the lives of mortals the things that they hold most dear, The pressure and cling of kisses, the heart of the daylight': cheer. Over the fleshy portals where souls in solitude wait, Write, as ye oft have written, the screed of a deadly hate. Scorch with the breath of anger the blossoms of love and peace, Till blessing is turned to cursing that never may know surcease. Die as the soulless perish, nor know what ye perish for, For ye are the victims offered to the red, red god of war. O'er fields where the daisies nodded let a gory river flow; Lift to the arching heavens your voice of a deathless woe. Press to your aching bosom, kiss with a sobbing breath, The one whom your love has cherished, for, lo! he shall sleep with Death. Give — for the price is written — the one whom ye held most dear; Give, though ye know not wherefore; give, with a scalding tear. 64 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. For the god of war drives earthward, and red is his regal car ; And ye and yours are his chosen, and his victims, too, ye are. Masters who rule the nations, kings on your lifted thrones, Know ye the ones who perish ? Hear ye the cries and moans ? Straight past the guarded portals, doth never a long-drawn m sigh Strike to your hearts with pleading for those who for you must die? Dying to build your greatness, victims of greed and vice, Where was the structure builded that ever was worth such price ? Masters who rule the nations, kings of exalted ways, Build as ye will, but surely such structure a God shall raze. THE KNEELING CAMEL. The camel at the close of day Kneels down upon the sandy plain To let his master lift his load And rest to gain. So thou, my soul shouldst to thy knees When daylight draweth to a close, And let thy master lift thy load And grant repose. Else how canst thou to-morrow meet With all to-morrow's work to do If thou thy burden thru the night Dost carry through. The camel kneels at morning's dawn To let his guide replace his load; Then rises up, anew To take the dusty road. 65 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. So thou, shouldst kneel at morning's dawn That God may give thee daily care, Assured that He no load too great Will make thee bear. Anna Temple. THE ASTER AND THE GOLDENROD. Eugene Shurtleff. I saw the purple aster nod, Beside the graceful golden-rod, Where o'er the moutain side they grew And shared the sunshine and the dew. I asked the breeze that swept the heather, Why grow these flowers so near together. The breeze with gentle voice replied: ' 'Why bless you, they are groom and bride." SEEING THINGS OUTDOORS. S. C. SCHMUCKER. Every ray of the sun that falls on the ocean warms the air above it and makes it drink more water; every wind that blows brings new and thirsty air to drain from the same source. So it comes that as much water runs out of the sea as runs into it. But it came in as visible rivers, carrying min- eral matter; it passes out as invisible vapor, and carries with it practically nothing. The minerals stay behind, and in the course of long ages, have made the water of the sea what it is. The waves of the ocean are its salvation. If it were not for them it would be uninhabitable. Life in the water needs its supply of air as well as life on the land, and if there were no waves the sea would be stagnant. Somewhere out in the open ocean the wind blows slantingly down the water, and a gentle swell arises. Catching back of the raised portion the wind pushes the wave higher and higher, as it passes toward the shore. It is the wave that passes, not the water; the motion not 66 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. the material. Just as from the centre of a great crowd excite- ment may pass to the edge without any person changing his location, so a wave may pass and the water be left just where it was. This seems at first sight hard to realize, but we have all at some time stood where we could see great waves pass over a field of grain as the wind blew across it. We all know that the grain is just where it was when the wave started. Each head moved forward and back over and over again. So in the waves of water the individual drops move chiefly up and down, though there is a little forward movement followed by an exactly equal amount of backward movement, so that when the wave has passed each drop of water is just where it was when it started. As the wave nears the shore the character of its motion changes. Finding less and less water in front of it to which to give up its excitement, it presses on as if in search of more and the wave runs up the sand. As the water climbs the beach its shape changes entirely Out in the open ocean the wave had a gentle slope both front and back. But as it moves in toward the shore the front gets into shallow water first and is retarded. So the back pushes on and the front gets higher and steeper until the face of it first becomes vertical and then topples over its crest a boiling mass, frothy with the bub- bles that it entangles as it falls. So the swell of the open ocean becomes the breaker of the coast. As the wave runs down the beach again it meets its successor and, striking it fair in the face, stops its course and with it runs down to break the next. These three then check the fourth, By this time perhaps they have gone back their full distance, where they join their fifth friend, and together the whole party runs far up the beach. Just at which interval the long wave shall come depends upon the direction and force of the wind. Sometimes every fourth wave takes the long run. Sometimes it is every fifth or sixth one. I think I have never counted it longer than every, seventh. 67 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. LISTEN! Frederick Abbott. Did you ever listen, brother, to the music of the rill, As it sang in happy cadence dancing gaily down the hill? Did you ever stop a moment just to catch its little song? If you haven't you have missed it: stop when next you go along. Have you never heard the tender little ballads of the rain, As it sang them, playing softly on the shingle and the pane ? Did you never hear the chorus as they joined in mighty shower? If you haven't listen for it when again the rain doth pour. Have you never heard the music as you strolled beneath the trees, Grander far than mighty Handel with his glorious har- monies ? Did you never hear the love-long of the forest to his bride ? If you haven't stop and listen when next you chance to ride. Have you never heard the soft diminuendo in the grain, When the breezes played upon it autumn's light and happy strain ? Have you never thrilled with pleasure, as you stood amidst the corn, And heard its sweet bravuras on a clear September morn ? Did you never think to listen to the diapason grand, When the Storm King sang in thunder, as he swept across the land? Have you never caught the throbbing of his mighty angry soul As he struck his harp electric, Have you never heard its roll? 68 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. Have you never paused to listen to the music of the spheres ? Such soul stirring strains of melody ne'er greeted mortal ears, When Orion with Arcturas and sweet Luna and old Sol, Head the choruses of Heaven and the angels prostrate fall. Have you never listened, brother, for the music deep and grand, That is swelling all around you on the water and the land ? Have you never caught the music that the little zephyrs play? As they make of you their spinnet, when they meet you day by day. Let me tell you, O, my brother, if you haven't learned to hear, All the music that is swelling daily round you year by year. If you haven't caught the melodies that nature plays and sings, You are missing all the music of Jehovah, King of Kings. All this music, O, my brother, O, my sister, is for you, Will you not then listen for it, as your journey you pursue ? It will fill your life with sunshine, it will banish pain and care, If you only catch the music, that is swelling everywhere. GIVING AND TAKING. Who gives and hides the giving, Nor counts on favor, fame, or praise, Shall find his smallest gift outweighs The burden of the sea and land. Who gives to whom hath naught been given, His gift in need, though small indeed. As is the grass-blade's wind-blown seed, Is large as earth and rich as heaven. ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. Forget it not, O man, to whom \[ A gift shall fall, while yet on earth; Yes, even to thy seven-fold birth Recall it in the lives to come. Who broods above a wrong in thought Sins much; but greater sin is his Who, fed and clothed with kindness, Shall count the holy alms as naught. Who dares to curse the hands that bless Shall know of sin the deadliest cost; The patience of the heavens is lost; Beholding man's unthankfulness. For he who breaks all laws may still In Sivam's mercy be forgiven; But none can save, in earth or heaven, The wretch who answers good with ill. "I have attempted to put in English verse a prose translation of a poem by Finnevaluva, a Hindoo poet of the third century of our era." J. G. Whittier. THE LION-MAKERS. In a certain place there dwelt four Brahman youths in the greatest friendship. Three of them had got to the further shore of the ocean of science, but were devoid of common sense ; while the fourth had common sense only, and no mind for science. Now once upon a time these friends took counsel together, and said, "Of what profit is science, if we cannot go with it to some foreign country and win the favor of princes and make our fortune ? Therefore to the Eastern country let us go." And so it came to pass. Now after they had gone a little way, the eldest spoke: "There is one among us, the fourth, who has no learning, but only 70 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. common-sense ; and a man can't get presents from kings by common-sense without learning. Not a whit will I give him of all that I gain; so let him go home." And the second said, "Ho there, Gumption! get you homeward, for you have no learning!" But the third made answer, "Alas it is not fitting so to do; for we have played together since we were boys. So let him come along too. He's a noble fellow, and shall have a share in the riches that we win." On then they went together, till in a jungle they saw the bones of a dead lion. Then spoke the first: Ha! now we can put our book-learning to the test. Here lies some sort of a dead creature: by the power of our learning we'll bring it to life. I'll put the bones together. And that then he did with zeal. The second added flesh, blood, and hide. But just as the third was breathing the breath of life into it, Gumption stopped him and said, "Hold: this is a lion that you are turning out. If you make him alive, he will kill every one of us." Thereupon made answer the other, "Fie, stupid! is learning to be fruitless in my hands?" "Well then," said Gumption "just wait a bit till I climb a tree." Thereupon the lion was brought to life. But the instant this was done, he sprang up and killed the three. After- wards Gumption climbed down and went home. Book-learning people rightly cherish; But gumption's best of all to me. Bereft of gumption you shall perish Like to the Lion makers three. From Pilpay's Fables. A CONQUEROR. Pauline R. Stayner. A castle there is, all grim and gray, Surrounded by high stone walls; And many a knight Waged bitter fight To enter its lordly halls. 71 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. But fast and firm were the massive gates. 'Gainst all who would through them win; While the old stone pile Seemed with scorn to smile At each failure to enter in. Then came a day when a maiden sweet Crept up and did patiently wait; No bar could withstand The touch of her hand And wide flew the frowning gate. No more the walls echo with sounds of the fray, No more comes the clash of strife; There's the voice of song—, For that castle strong Was my heart, and the maid is my wife. "CONJUHATIONS." By Victor A. Hermann. One night gran 'mammy cum to us When we'd all gone to bed; "Yu deh lie still, doan' maike no fuss. Deh's lights in de Noff," she sed. Ah crept fum de quilts, ah peeped fro' de pane, Mah knees dey shook en shook; Foh deh weh lights in de sky es plain Es owls in de ol' dream-book. " Gran 'mam,' gran'mam'!" we called fum bed, "What maiks dem lights?" En gran'mam' sed. "Conjuhations, chile, conjuhations." 72 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. Las' night when we went foh de steehs, We all got los' in de woods; En de strangest soun's came to our eahs, De trees wohe long gray hoods. Blue lights glowed down in de sof ' swamp mud, Big eyes blinked up in de pine ; De moon rolled up lak a cup ob blood, En we lef ' dem steehs behin'. "Gran'mam', gran 'mam'!" we sed nex' day, "What's in de swamp ?" En den she'd say, "Conjuhations, chile, conjuhations." Somtimes when we're all sittin' still By de arch wheh de bac'lawg glows, We feel so strange en den a chill Shakes us fum haid to toes. De ol' hearth-cat sticks up her bac' En rolls her great green eyes; De chaihs en tables staht to crac' En de pine flo' seems to rise. "Gran'mam', gran'mam'!" we say in a bref, "What's det skeehed us mos' to deff ?" "Conjuhations, chile, conjuhations." One day when we went down to de spring To fetch de mawnin' pail, We foun' de tip ob a blac' owl's wing Run fro' wid a rusty nail. A lizahd-skin, en de foot ob a mole, En dey'd been in de spring all night; We pulled dem out wid a cypress pole, Den run wid all our might. "Gran'mam', gran'mam'!" we cried in dread, "What's in de spring?" En gran'mam' sed, "Conjuhations, chile, conjuhations." 73 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. HAND SHAKING. Sydney Smith. On meeting a young lady who had just entered the garden, and shaking hands with her, "I must" he said "give you a lesson in shaking hands, I see. There is nothing more characteristic than shaking hand, I have classfied them. Lister, when he was here, illustrated some of them. Ask Mrs. Sydney to show you his sketches of them when you go in. There is the high official, — the body erect, and a rapid, short shake near the chin. There is the mort- main, — the flat hand introduced into your palm, and hardly conscious of its contiguity. The digital — one finger held out, much used by the high clergy. — There is the shakus rusticus, where your hand is seized in an iron grasp, betokening rude health, warm heart, and dis- tance from the metropolis ; but producing a strong sense of relief on your part when you find your hand released and your fingers unbroken. The next to this is the retentive shake, — one which beginning with vigor, pauses as it were to take breath, but without relinquishing its prey, and be- fore you are aware begins again, till you feel anxious as to the result, and have no shake left in you. There are other varieties but this is enough for one lesson. — " OUR COUNTRY. Julia Ward Howe. On primal rocks she wrote her name, Her towers were reared on holy graves, The golden seed that bore her came Swift-winged with prayers o'er ocean waves. The Forest bowed his solemn crest And open flung his sylvan doors; Meek Rivers led the appointed Guest To clasp the wide-embracing shores; 74 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. Till, fold by fold, the broidered Land To swell her virgin vestments grew, While Sages, strong in heart and hand. Her virtues' fiery girdle drew. O Exile of the wrath of Kings! O Pilgrim Ark of Liberty! The refuge of divinest things Their record must abide in thee. First in the glories of thy front Let the crown jewel Truth be found, Thy right hand fling with generous wont Love's happy chain to furthest bound. Let Justice with the faultless scales Hold fast the worship of thy sons, Thy commerce spread her shining sails Where no dark tide of rapine runs. So link thy ways to those of God, So follow firm the Heavenly laws, That stars may greet thee, warrior-browed And storm -sped angels hail thy cause. O Land, the measure of our prayers, Hope of the world, in grief and wrong! Be thine the blessing of the years, The gift of faith, the crown of song. OLD GLORY. Fred Emerson Brooks. Let others boast of clique or clan, There is no prouder boast of man Than this: "I am American!" — The nation great in story — , Where one can rise from any grade, And few are warriors by trade, But all are soldiers ready made, To fight for dear Old Glory 75 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. How proud I am Of Uncle Sam: He's known throughout creation, As ruler of The land I love. This grand and mighty nation. What though I brag About the flag She well deserves renown: No enemy On land or sea Has ever pulled her down. And when our eagle soaring high, Trails that loved banner through the sky, The nation hears her battle cry — That grand old eagle, hoary — From North and South, from either shore, Brave thousands gather thousands more; From peerless fleets great cannon roar Defenders of Old Glory. No despots rule, no tyrants rise Where Liberty's great banner flies And soars, that monarch of the skies — Our grand old eagle, hoary. Where rich and poor together cling, And fight for Justice, while they sing Of Freedom; there's no conquering The sons of dear Old Glory. Each star a nation grand and free, Each stripe a bond of liberty; Where'er it floats, on land or sea, It tells the self -same story — : No hand shall wield oppression's rod Where Progress' gleaming feet have trod, Where Justice rules with Freedom's God Defending dear Old Glory. 76 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. THE THREE VASES. . Said the Vase from Tokio, "I'm so costly as you know That I hope to see myself Soon on some collectors' shelf Ticketed and marked with care: 'Do not handle; very rare' .} )> Said the little Urn from Greece, "I am no museum piece, Yet my figure knocks askew Such a twisted thing as you. Grace and Beauty line on line Pave my way to fame divine." Said the Jar from Ispahan, "Years I boast, a wondrous span, And the bard hath made of me Songs for all eternity. Cease your chatter, lumps of clay, Only I outlive to-day." Said the maid, from Dublin hired, "Faith, this dustin' makes me tired; Smash,ye haythin out o'shape, Smash,ye ugly furrin' ape." In the ash heap, hid from sight, All the vases lay that night. THE ROAD TO A WOMAN'S HEART. Thomas Chandler Haliburton. As we approached the Inn at Amherst, the Clockmaker grew uneasy. "It 's pretty well on in the evening, I guess," said he, "and marm Pugwash isasonsartininhertemperas a mornin' in April; it's all sunshine or all clounds with her, and if she's in one of her tantrums, she'll stretch out her neck 77 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. and hiss, like a goose with a flock of goslins. I wonder what on arth Pugwasb was a ihinkin on when he signed articles of partnership with that are woman; She's not a bad-looking piece of furniture neither, and it's a proper pity sich a clever woman should carry such a stiff upper lip — she reminds me of our old minister Joshua Hopewell's apple trees. The old minister had an orchard of most particular good fruit for he was a great hand at buddin" graftin' and what not, and the orchard (it was on the south side of the house) stretched right up to the road. Well, there were some trees hung over the fence: I never seed such bearers, the apples hung in ropes for all the world like strings of onions, and the fruit was beautiful. "Nobody touched the minister's apples, and when other folks lost their'n from the boys, his'n always hung there like bait to a hook, but there never was so much as a nibble at 'em. So I said to him one day, 'Minister, said I, 'how on airth do you manage to keep your fruit that's so exposed, when no one else can't do it nohow?' 'Why,' says he, 'they are dreadful pretty fruit, aintthey?' T guess, said I," 'there ain't the like on em in all Connecticut,' 'Well,' says he 'I'll tell you the secret, but you needn't let on to no one about it. That are row next the fence, I grafted it myself, I took great pains to get the right kind, I sent clean up to Roxberry and away down to Squawneck Creek.' I was af eared he was going to give me day and date for every graft being a terrible long-winded man in his stories; so says I, T know that, Minister, but how do you preserve them?' 'Why, I was a going to tell you; said he, 'when you stopped me. That are outward row I grafted myself with the choicest kind I could find, and I suceeded. They are beautiful, but so etarnal sour, no human soul can eat them. Well, the boys think the old minister's grafting has all succeeded about as well as that row, and they sarch no farther. They snicker at my grafting, and I laugh in my sleeve, I guess, at their penetration.' Now, Marm Pugwash is like the minister's apples, very tempting fruit to look at, but desperate sour. However if she goes to act ugly, I'll give her a dose of soft 78 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. sawder, that will take the frown out of her frontispiece, and make her dial plate as smooth as a lick of copal varnish. But here we are, "Good evening, marm," said Mr. Slick, "how do you do and how's Mr. Pugwash ?" "He," said she, "why he's been abed this hour, you don't expect to disturb him this time of night, I hope." "Oh no," said Mr. Slick, "certainly not, and I am sorry to have disturbed you, but we got detained longer than we expected; I am sorry that — " "So am I," said she, "but if Mr. Pugwash will keep an Inn when he has no occa- sion to, his family can't expect no rest." Here the Clock- maker, seeing the storm gathering, stooped down suddenly and staring intently, held out his hand and exclaimed, "Well, if that ain't a beautiful child — come here, my little man, and shake hands along with me. Well I declare, if that are little feller ain't the finest child I ever seed — what, not abed yet ? Ah, you rogue, where did you get them are pretty rosy cheeks; stole them from mamma, eh? Lord, that are little feller would be a show in our country — come to me, my man." Here the "soft sawder" began to operate. Mrs. Pugwash said in a milder tone than we had yet heard: "Go, my dear, to the gentleman — go, dear." Mr. Slick kissed him — . "Black eyes — let me see — ah, mamma's eyes too, and black hair also, as I am alive, why you are mamma's own boy, the very image of mamma." Do be seated, gentle- men," said Mrs. Pugwash. "Sally, make a fire in the next room. I am sure you have had no supper," said Mrs. Pugwash to me; "you must be hungry and weary, too. I will get you a cup of tea." "I am sorry to give you so much trouble," said I. "Not the least trouble in the world," she replied; "on the contrary, a pleasure. ' ' We were then shown into the next room, where the fire was now blazing up, but Mr. Slick protested he could not proceed without the little boy, and lingered hehind to ascer- tain his age, and concluded by asking the child if he had any aunts that looked like mamma. As the door closed, Mr. Slick said, "It's a pity she don't go well in gear. The difficulty with those critters is to git 79 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. them to start arter that there is no trouble with them if you don't check 'em too short. If you do they'll stop again, run back and kick like mad, and then Old Nick himself could'nt start 'em. Pugwash, I guess, don't understand the natur of the critter; she'll never go kind in harness for him." "You seem" said I, "to understand the female heart so well, I make no doubt you are a general favorite among the fair sex." "Any man," he replied, that understands horses, has a pretty considerable fair knowledge of women, for they are jist alike in temper, and require the very identical same treatment: Incouragethe timid ones, be gentle and steady with the fractious, but lather the sulky ones like blazes." THE ART OF THE THEATRE. Julia Marlowe. It has been suggested to me that to talk to college students about what method of procedure should be adopted by persons aspiring to a stage career, is rather beside the mark; because, colleges make no provision for the teaching of stage aspirants. I cannot feel that the subject is an in- appropriate one for this audience; for the aim of a college is to educate. And nowhere more than in the theatre are those things which are the results of education, — namely, the knowledge of literature and history, an appreciation of those things of which history and literature have been made, and a reverence for those great ones who have made them — more necessary and more potent than in the theatre. I do not mean by this to say that all college graduates should go on the stage; but rather that all stage aspirants would do well to go to college. It has been said that the art of the theatre is made up of all other arts. I myself have never known a successful actor who did not have a rare knowledge and a very complete appreciation not only of acting but also of all others art. For example, he must have a knowledge of sculpture, not only of the history of sculpture but of the technical principles 80 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. which govern the sculptor himself. In order to look like one of the early Greeks, one must not only know how the sculptures of Phidias and Praxiteles looked; one must know how to make one's self look like that thing which they re- presented, namely, — a perfectly controlled and poised human body. Then, an actor must know painting, — not only what pictures are masterpieces, but why; in order that he may effectively choose his costumes and scenery, and so produce on the stage a beautiful harmony of color. He must know history, in order that he may avoid making the mistake of attiring Lady Macbeth in the hoopskirts of Marie Antoinnette, as did the famous Mrs. Barry; or Macbeth, the primitive warrior of the heath, in a flowered brocaded waistcoat and a red velvet coat, with gold lace and buttons, as David Garrick did. Above all is a knowledge of the fundamentals of literature indispensable. When this has been acquired, an actor has only what an every-day architect would call the steel construction of his house. This steel construction must be and may be ac- quired. What cannot be acquired is that nameless some- thing for which almost everyone has a different definition, which stage aspirants usually call temperament, and upon which laymen like to dwell. Call it temperament if you will — that ability to disengage one's self, to feel in such a highly sympathetic degree the character one is attempting to portray that it appears to the spectator, though never to one's self, that one really is that character. I have often had people say to me, "You do not look as if you were acting; you seem really to be the character you are assuming." The aim and the end of acting is just precisely this — to seem really to be the character one is only assuming. They go on to say, "You weep real tears!" Real tears! How they do interest those persons in the audience who are young! Real tears are produced in various ways in the theatre; sometimes one is more relaxed 8] ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. than at other times, and the tears come easily. One actor of whom I heard looked at the calcium, because the strong light brought the tears into his eyes. Another carried an onion in his handkerchief; and another, unable to produce any real tears by any device whatever, held in his hand his snuff box, which he had filled with vaseline. When seem- ingly taking snuff, he put the vaseline on his cheeks, while the audience went into transports over the extreme reality of his emotionalism. When a beginner on the stage, I first acted Juliet, I be- lieved myself to be more successful on the nights I wept real tears most profusely; until I was told by several wise persons upon whose judgement I relied that this was not the case. I knew then that the attention of the spectators had sometimes been taken up with the real tears of Julia Marlowe that they forgot about Juliet and the tears she wept. I have learned that my part when I play Juliet is not to weep myself, but to make the audience weep An actor of whom I heard was very much commended because when, during a scene in the play, his role required that he be struck on the cheek with a glove, his face be- came suffused with blood. This was immagined to be an expression of genius; as a mutter of fact, it was nothing but a trick — the actor held his breath. That the audience noticed the actual color of his face at all is to, my mind, not particularly in his favor. By his whole betrayal of the part, not by any fragmentary mechanical device, should he so have absorbed the spectators that the color of his face became a matter of insignificance. I have often been asked if in "As You Like It," when Orlando's bloody napkin is shown to Rosalind, and accord- ing to the text, she turns pale, I powder my face. I have never done this, partly for the reason that though I do at that point turn my back to the audience, I do it for so very brief a moment that I have no opportunity to powd- er my face. But I believe that it is not really necessary. I feel that if during this scene of the play I act Rosalind 82 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. skilfully enough, the idea of her pallor will so take its place in the minds of the spectators that they will not con- cern themselves too much with the actual color of my face. The ability to do this proceeds from that indefinable something — call it temperament if you will — which, though he must have much else, an actor, to be an an actor, must have first and most. Scarcely a week passes that I do not receive dozens, even hundreds, of letters from young people, who tell me that they wish to act and who ask me to advise them as to how they shall begin. Almost invariably the writers of these letters confide to me that they have temperament; very, very seldom do any of them say that they are taking courses in singing, in gymnastics, and above all, in dramatic literature. It would interest me much more were they to say that they were doing any of these things; not because they are more im- portant or as important as the possession of temperament, but because it does not often happen that any person is endowed with that rare and unique gift which we call tem- perament. We have all observed that those persons who say they have a sense of humor never really have it. Its very presence would prevent their dwelling upon it. This holds quite as true of persons who have temperament. Almost never does anyone who thinks he has it really possess it. To be sure, most people do think they have it. How many, I wonder, in my audience today, think they have not ? But the lack of a great gift for acting does not, and perhaps it is just as well that it does not, keep persons who wish to act from going on the stage. A play is like a community; there are large parts and there are small parts to be acted in it. There is a place in it for the greatest genius and there is a place in it too for the humblest beginner, who may be, but who must be careful not to suppose himself to be, a great genius in embryo. In "Hamlet," for example, some one must act Hamlet; but also, some one must act Bernardo. There is not only the first grave-digger, there is the second grave-digger. All these must be fittingly re- presented. S3 HHB^H^^h^hhm ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. We hear sometimes protests against what is known as "star" system, "Why," demand these questioners, "in Shakespearian plays especially do we see one star, or two stars, and no more? One star or two stars who by their superior proficiency emphasize the limitations of those persons in the company who are not stars and there- by throw the performance out of balance." It is sad that this condition of affairs must exist, but how can it be a- voided, especially in Shakespearian representations? As Doctor Rolfe once said, Shakespeare wrote parts that only stars can play, meaning by that the elect in the theatrical profession. He also wrote parts that stars cannot play — successfully, that is to say. Once in New York, in a benefit perform- ance of Hamlet, given for a famous actor, a number of well-known stars offered to appear as the ladies and gentle- men of the Court of Denmark. They did appear to the actual injury of the performance. So pronounced were their personalities, and so accustomed were they to allow their personalities to be felt that they were unable to subor- dinate themselves sufficiently to act the pans of members of an obeyant group. In spite of themselves they took the attention of the audience from what was happening at the Court of Denmark to the retinue of the court who were watching it happen. Shakespeare wrote star parts ; and in Shakespear's time there were actors with gifts of such a high order that they were worthy of being called by the modern term, "stars." Does anyone suppose that at any time on the stage, there have not been stars. Will anyone attempt tc prove that when Roscius was an actor in Rome, there were no stars in the eternal City? Surely in the days of Sophocles and Euripides there were, as now, great actors, and good, bad and indifferent actors, too. The role, for example, of Medea was certainly not intrusted to a person of the same quality as one of the many who made up the chorus. In all the arts and in all the professions there have been stars. Shelly was a star, and so were Leonardo da Vinci and 84 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. Michael Angelo ; — Abraham Lincoln and Napoleon, were stars. Shakespeare was a star, perhaps, according to contemporaneous reports, not as an actor, but certainly at his own particular business. And Homer and Dante, are they not stars? Why should it be thought that in the art of the drama alone there should be no stars ? All those other persons in a play who are not, and who are never likely to be, stars — what of them ? They must above all, be professional. By this, I mean that acting must be to them the chief business of life ; the work they have chosen to do. They must, with all their powers, first devote themselves to learning how to do it, and then to doing it in as perfect a way as possible; whether their gifts assign to them such roles as Juliet, Lady Macbeth and Rosalind, Hamlet, King Lear and Othello; or the roles of the pages who stand and wait upon these others. You, I know, devote a certain amount of your time to producing plays, and acting in them ; to giving what are called amateur performances. Why amateur? Because, whatever the future may determine, your present serious occupation is not the producing and the acting of plays. Mr. William Dean Howells has said that he prefers ama- teur perpormances to those of professionals for the very reason that they have not that background of stress and strain which makes professional perfermances professional. I am told that there are University professors, whose views coincide with this view of Mr. Howells, but, do any of these prefer amateur literature to professional literature ? Do they like a song written by a member of a college glee club better than one of Keat's songs or one of Shelley's, back of which there was such stress and strain as must for- ever be remembered? Real acting, like any other real ar- tistic expression, has its sources in the very deepest springs of life. However it may ripple and sparkle on the surface, underneath it is dark and still, like "the soundless sea" in Kubla Khan; as are all real things. I do not mean to deter you from giving amateur per- formances. I only ask you to remember always that they 85 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. are amateur. Nothing is more pathetic than an amateur posing as a a professional. No art is more exacting than dramatic art. There is no life that is harder than that of the actor. Whatever in the course of his career his reward may be, it is smaller than the price he pays for it. And not only must he devote all his time to his work; he must do this under conditions of the most difficult and distressing kind. For nine months of the year he is obliged to be away from his home and his friends, and live on railway trains and in hotels. For the most part, he cannot choose his associates. He must study, and re- hearse, and act with persons who may or may not be con- genial. He is, as it were, living in a family that is not his own, and very often is not even like his own. From this necessary condition of affairs proceed many evils, — the very greatest of which is, perhaps, loneliness. Moreover, only the reaching of the very highest point in the theatre can make the many steps in the direction of that point endurable It is an ill thing to be a mediocre author, or a mediocre painter; but nothing is quite so bad as being a mediocre actor. To invest one's youth, and one's hope, and one's enthusiasm; and then to gain anything but the whole prize, — this in the theatre is a tragic fate. How many young persons there are who go upon the stage, and spend their youth, and their hope, and their enthusiasm, only to find that after all, a stage career is not for them ! There is then no place for them in the theatre; and, because the training they have received in the theatre prepares them for nothing but the theatre, there is no place for them anywhere else in the world of endeavor. It is too late to make a new beginning. Perhaps what I have just said will discourage those among you who are stage aspirants to such an extent that you will cease to aspire to a career in the theatre. If, however, there are those among you who still are determined to go upon the stage, I can do no better than advise you in the words of Kipling; 86 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. "Go to your work and be strong, Halting not in your ways, Balking the end half won. For an instant dole of praise. Go to your work and be wise, Certain of sword or pen; Who are neither children or gods, But men in a world of men." Lectue delivered at Badelifje College Cambridge, Mass. ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. THE GOSPEL OF LABOR. The legend of Felix is ended, the toiling of Felix is done; The master has paid him his wages, the goal of his journey is won; He rests, but he never is idle; a thousand years pass like a day, In the glad surprise of that Paradise where work is sweeter than play. But I think the King of that country comes out from his tireless host, And walks in this world of the weary, as if He loved it the most; For here in the dusty confusion, with eyes that are heavy and dim, He meets again the laboring men who are looking and longing for Him. He cancels the curse of Eden, and brings them a blessing instead; Blessed are they that labor, for Jesus partakes of their bread, He puts His hand to their burdens, He enters their homes at night; Who does his best shall have as a guest the Master of life and of light. And courage will come with His presence and patience return at His touch; And manifold sins be forgiven to those who love Him much; And the cries of envy and anger will change to the songs of cheer, For the toiling age will forget its rage when the Prince of Peace draws near. ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. This is the gospel of labor — ring it, ye bells of the Kirk — The Lord of Love came down from above, to live with the men who work, This is the rose that He planted, here in the thorn-cursed soil — Heaven is blest with perfect rest, but the blessing of Earth is toil. Henry Van Dyke. A COLLECT FOR THANKSGIVING DAY. Edwin Markham. I thank Thee, Father, for this sky, Wherein Thy little sparrows fly; For unseen hands that build and break The cloud-pavilions for my sake. — This fleeting beauty, high and wild, Toward which I wander, as a child. I thank Thee for the strengthening hills, That give bright spirit to the rills; For blue peaks soaring up apart, To send down music on the heart; For tree-tops wavering soft and high, Writing their peace against the sky; For forest farings that have been; For this fall rain that shuts me in, Giving to my low little roof The sense of home, secure, aloof. And thanks for morning's stir and light And for the folding hush of night; For those high deities that spread The star-filled chasm overhead; For elfin chemistries that yield 89 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. The green fires of the April field; For all the foam and surge of bloom ; For leaves gone glorious to their doom.- All the wild loveliness that can Touch the immortal in a man. Father of Life, I thank Thee, too, For old acquaintance, near and true,— For friends who came into my day And took the loneliness away; For faith that held on to the last; For all sweet memories of the past, — Dear memories of my dead that send Long thoughts of life, and of life's end,- That make me know the light conceals A deeper world than it reveals. GRANDFATHER'S WISH. J. C. Briggs. When buds first swell upon the trees, When I first hear the hum of bees, When brooks are filled by frequent rain, I would I were a boy again. When willows by the brookside sprout, When all the boys go after trout, When robins sing on hill and plain, I would I were a boy again. When days begin to warmer grow, When moist south winds begin to blow When flowers are blooming in the lane, I would I were a boy again. 90 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. A BIT OF GOOD LUCK. Henry Van Dyke. May 4, 1898. To-day, fishing down the swift water. I found Joseph Jefferson on a big rock in the middle of the brook, casting the fly for trout. He said he had fished this very stream three and forty years ago. Leaf from my diary. We met on Nature's stage, And May had set the scene, With bishop caps standing in delicate ranks And violets blossoming over the banks, While the brook ran full between. The waters rang your call With frolicsome waves a-rwinkle, They'd known you as a boy, and they knew you as man, And every wave, as it merrily r».n, Cried, "Enter Rip Van Winkle." VIRTUES OF THE LOWER ANIMALS. What is there in us that we do not see in the operations of animals? The swallows that we see at the return of the spring, searching all the corners of our houses for the most commodious places wherein to build their nest; do they seek without judgment, and amongst a thousand choose out the most proper for their purpose, without dis- cretion? Why does the spider make her web tighter in one place, and slacker in another, why now make one sort of knot and then another, if she has not deliberation, thought and conclusion. We sufficiently discover in most of their works how much animals excel us, and how unable our art is to imitate them. Take the fox, the people of Thrace make use of when they wish to pass over the ice of some frozen river, and turn him out before them to that purpose ; when we see him lay his ear upon the bank of the river, 91 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. down to the ice to listen if from a more remote or nearer distance he can hear the noise of the waters current, and, according as he finds by that the ice to be of a less or greater thickness, to retire or advance, — have we not reason to believe thence that the same rational thoughts passed through his head that we should have upon the like occasions; and that it is a ratiocination and consequence, drawn from natural sense that, that which makes a noise runs, that which runs is not frozen, what is not frozen is liquid and that which is liquid yields to impression ? The oxen that served in the royal gardens of Susa, to water them and turn certain great wheels to draw water for that purpose, to which buckets were fastened being ordered every one to draw a hundred turns a day, they were so accustomed to this number that it was impossible by any force to make them draw one turn more but their task being performed, they would suddenly stop and stand still. The keeper of an elephant in a private house of Syria robbed him every meal of the half of his allowance. One day his master would himself feed him, and poured the full measure of barley he had ordered for his allowance into his manger; at which the elephant casting an angry look at his keeper, with his trunk separated the one half from the other, and thrust it aside, by that declaring the wrong was done him. As to fidelity there is no animal in the world so treacherous as man. As to magnanimity, it will be hard to exhibit a better instance of it than in the example of the great dog sent to Alexander the Great from the Indies. They first brought him a stag to encounter, next a boar, and after that a bear, all which he slighted, and disdained to stir from his place ; but when he saw a lion he then immediately roused himself, evidently manifest- ing that he declared that alone worthy to enter the lists with. Touching repentance and the acknowledgment of faults is reported of an elephant that having in the impetuosity of his rage killed his keeper, he fell into so extreme a sorrow that he would never after eat but starved himself to death. And as to clemency, 'tis said of a tiger, the most cruel of 92 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. all beasts that a kid having been put in to him, he suffered a two day's hunger rather than hurt it, and the third broke the grate he was shut up in, to seek elsewhere for prey; so unwilling he was to fall upon the kid his familiar and his guest. And as to the laws of familiarity and agreement, formed by conversation, it ordinarily happens that we bring up cats, dogs, and hares, tame together. Montaigne's Essays. TO BLANCO. Timothy Titcomb. I trust you as you trust the stars, Nor cruel loss nor scoff of pride Nor beggary nor prison bars Can move you from my side. Ah Blanco! — did I worship God As truly as you worship me Or follow where my Master trod With your humility. Did I sit fondly at his feet As you, dear Blanco, sit at mine And watch him with a love as sweet My life would grow divine. VANITIES. A NEW ARRIVAL. Here, gossip, stay a moment, wait! You see that damsel, near the gate Attired in habit, plum and sober, In hues of russet, brown and slate, That's Miss October. 93 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. She wears a muddy-weather skirt, I'ts full ten inches from the dirt; And round the hem, faced up with leather, While in her cap two gems engirt A falcon's feather. Across the gate and down the park She glances ; now her eyes seem dark, Now blue, now grey, the pretty traitors Talking of gates! do you remark Her doeskin gaiters? Ah! mistress, you're a dainty girl; What if your lip may sometimes curl, Your coquetry can never bore me; Not though into the wind you whirl Tears, sad and stormy. For though you make me cold at night And leave the trees in naked plight, — You do, you merciless disrober You stimulate my appetite Crisp Miss Ostober. OUT OF THE NIGHT THAT COVERS ME. William Ernest henley. Out of the night that covers me, Black as the pit from Pole to Pole, I thank whatever gods may be For my unconquerable soul. In the full clutch of circumstance I have not winced nor cried aloud, Under the bludgeonings of chance My head is bloody but unbowed. 94 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. Beyond this place of wrath and tears Looms but the Horror of the shade, And yet the menace of the years Finds and shall find me unafraid. It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishments the scroll; I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul. ANTOINE LOUIS BARYE. His wife dared not tell him Corot was dead and that another, the power of whose pictures he felt even more- namely, Millet, was dangerously ill. It was now too late. One day in June, 1875, there was a quiet bustling to and fro in a small plain house on the Quai des Celest- ins. Men in dress-coats with serious faces, forming a kind of deputation and followed by others in black frocks with the ribbons of the Legion of Honor in the button hole, entered the courtyard. Students who affected some garb of Bohemia and students foppish in dress rubbed elbows with workmen in blouses, army officers, foreigners interested in art, and staid friends of the family. The householder and father, a master second to no other of his generation, lay in his coffin surrounded by many of the smaller works of art he had created. The dress- coats were present officially; they represented the School of the Fine Arts. The decorations and the uniforms were there to grace the last ceremonies of a member of the Legion of Honor. The art-students and foreigners came from reverence or curiosity. The blouses testified to the popular esteem for a man whose triumphs in art reflected were on that great lower middle class of France from which he sprang. For Antoine Louis Barye was not rich ever, and was not noble in the hereditary sense, but when he died, he had attained to pretty much every- thing except fortune which seems to a modest and hon- orable ambition worth the struggle. When the ceremon- 95 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. ies at the house were done and the popular high artists of the day, such as M. M. Carolus Duran and Meisson- ier, had, with ardent gesticulations, extolled the beauty of the statuettes about the rooms after their generous wont; when with its military escort the train of mourners and friends left the courtyard behind the bier, then the worth of the man and artist in the estimate of the rough people appeared. Moving through a quarter where workshops and forges and factories of all kinds are plenty workmen still sweaty from their labor came to join the procession or to greet it, to make more motley but still more impressive the funeral of a person who was known to be modesty itself. No man in all Paris could cast bronze as he could; no foreman of a foundry but could take lessons of Barye in the elements of foundry-work. No one ever heard him belittle other artists or try to push himself; many could recall generous words of praise that came with doubled force from a man so quiet, so reserved, so silent. And here was a man of peace ac- companied to his grave with military honors ; a republican proceeding in pomp Here he was, a member of that true democracy of the arts which does not deny to men the spiritual glories of an aristocracy provided they have shown their right to preeminence, accorded a funeral that a prince might envy. Here was a man who had seen in his atelier the highest Princes of France, and the last King; who had been favored by an emperor and snub- bed by envious bureaucrats, regretted and reverently fol- lowed by the most irreverent and leveling populace in the world. From The Century*" 96 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. THE HARE AND MANY FRIENDS. Friendship, like love is but a name, Unless to one you stint the flame. The child whom many fathers share Hath seldom known a father's care. 'Tis thus in friendships; who depend On many, rarely find a friend. A Hare, who in a civil way Complied with everything, like Gay, Was known by all the bestial train Who haunt the wood or graze the plain, Her care was, never to offend; And every creature was her friend. As forth she went at early dawn To taste the dew-besprinkled lawn Behind she hears the hunter's cries, And from the deep-mouthed thunder flies, — She starts, she stops, she pants for breath; She hears the near advance of death; She doubles to mislead the hound, And measures back her mazy round; Till fainting in the public way, Half dead with fear, she gasping lay. What transport in her bosom grew, When first the horse appeared in view, "Let me" says she, "your back ascend, And owe my safety to a friend, You know my feet betray my flight To friendship every burden's light." The Horse replied: — "Poor honest Puss, It grieves my heart to see thee thus ; Be comforted, relief is near; For all your friends are in the rear." 97 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. The Goat remarked her pulse was high, Her languid head, her heavy eye ; "My back," says he, "may do you harm; The sheep's at hand; and wool is warm." The sheep was feeble, and complained, His sides a load of wool sustained. Said he was slow, confessed his fears ; For hounds eat Sheep, as well as Hares; She now the trotting Calf addressed, To save from death a friend distressed, "Shall I," says he, "of tender age, In this important care engage ? Older and abler passed you by; How strong are those! how weak am I!" "Should I presume to bear you hence, Those friends of mine may take offence, Excuse me then. You know my heart; But dearest friends, alas! must part, How shall we all lament! Adieu! For see, the hounds are just in view." John Gay. DEPENDING UPON OTHERS. MRS. S. C. HALL. "Independence" is the word, of all others, that Irish- men, women, and children least understand; and the calm- ness, or rather indifference, with which they submit to de- pendence, bitter and miserable as it is, must be a source of deep regret to all "who love the land" or who feel anxious to uphold the dignity of human kind, Let me select a few cases from our Irish village, such as are abundant in every neighborhood. Shane Thurlough, "as dacent a boy" and Shane's wife, "as clane skinned a girl," as any in the world, 98 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. There is Shane, an active handsome looking fellow, lean- ing over the half-door of his cottage, kicking a hole in the wall with his brogue, and picking up all the large gravel within his reach to pelt the ducks with, — those useful Irish scavengers. Let us speak to him. "Good morrow Shane!" "Och! the bright bames of heaven on ye every day! and kindly welcome, my lady; and won't ye step in and rest? — its powerful hot, and a beautiful summer, sure, the Lord be praised!" "Thank you, Shane, I thought you were going to cut the hayfield to-day; if a heavy shower comes it will be spoiled; it has been fit for the scythe these last two days." "Sure its all owing to that thief o' the world, Tom Farrel, my lady. Didn't he promise me the loan of his scythe ? and, by the same token, I was to pay him for it; and de- pinding on that, I didn't buy one which I have been threat- ening to do for the last two years." "But why don't you go to Carrick and purchase one?" "To Carrick! Och, His a good step to Carrick, and my toes are on the ground saving your presence for I depinded on Tom Javris to tell Andy Cappler, the brogue maker, to do my shoes ; and, bad luck to him, the spalpeen, he forgot it." "Where's your pretty wife, Shane?" "She's in all the woe o' the world, ma'am dear, and she puts all the blame of it on me, though I'm not in the fault this time, anyhow. The child's taken the small-pox, and she depinded on me to tell the doctor to cut it for the cow- pox, and I depinded on Kitty Cackle, the limmer, to tell the doctor's own man, and thought she would not forget it, because the boy's her bachelor, but out o' sight, out o* mind. The never a word she tould him about it, and the babby has got it nataral, and the woman's in heart trouble, to say nothing o' myself, and it is the first, and all." "I am very sorry, indeed, for you have got a much bet- ter wife than most men." "That's a true word, my lady, only she's fidgety-like some- times, and says I don't hit the nail on the head quick ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. enough; and she takes a dale more trouble than she need about many a thing." "I do not think I ever saw Ellen's wheel without flax be- fore, Shane." "Bad cess to the wheel! I got it this morning about that too. I depinded on John Williams to bring the flax from O' Flaherty's this day week, and he forgot it; and she says I ought to have brought it myself, and I close to the spot. But where's the good? says I; sure he'll bring it next time." "I suppose, Shane, you will soon move into the new cottage at Clurn Hill? I passed it to-day and it looked so cheerful; and when you get there, you must take Ellen s advice, and depend solely on yourself." "Och, ma'am dear, don't mention it; sure its that makes me so down in the mouth this very minit. Sure I saw that born blackguard, Jack Waddy, and he comes in here quite innocent-like; 'Shane, you've an eye to squire's new lodge, says he.' 'Maybe I have,' says I. I am yer man,' says he, 'How so?' says I. 'Sure I'm as good as married to my lady's maid, says he; and I'll spake to squire for you my own self.' 'The blessing be about you says I,' quite grateful, and we took a strong cup on the strength of it, and depinding on that, I thought all safe. And what dy'e think, my lady? Why, himself stalks into the place, talked the squire over to be sure, and without so much as by yer lave, sates him- self and his new wife on the laase in the house, and I may go whistle." "It was a great pity, Shane, that you didn't go your- self to Mr. Clurn." "That's a true word for ye ma'am dear; but its hard if a poor man can't have a friend to depind on." Sketches oj Irish. Character, 100 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. O LITTLE TOWN OF BETHLEHEM. Phillipps Brooks. O little town of Bethlehem, How still we see thee lie ! Above thy deep and dreamless sleep The silent stars go by, Yet in thy dark streets shineth The everlasting Light; The hopes and fears of all the years Are met in thee to-night. O morning stars, together Proclaim the holy birth! And praises sing to God the King, And peace to men on earth. For Christ is born of Mary, And gathered all above; While mortals sleep the angels keep Their watch of wondering love. How silently, how silently, The wondrous gift is given ! So God imparts to human hearts The blessings of His Heaven. No ear may hear his coming, But in this world of sin; Where meek souls will receive him still, The dear Christ enters in. Where children pure and happy Pray to the blessed Child, Where misery cries out to thee, Son of the Mother mild : Where Charity stands watching, And Faith holds wide the door; The dark night wakes; the glory breaks, And Christmas comes once more. 101 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. O holy Child of Bethlehem, Descend to us we pray! Cast out our sin and enter in ; Be born in us to-day. We hear the Christmas angels The great glad tidings tell; O come to us, abide with us, Our Lord Emmanuel! ARBOR DAY. Hard by the western portal now we wait To deck the rugged walls of Golden Gate, That stand athwart the azure ocean old, To frame the picture rare of blue and gold. And looking backward toward the crested town, Behold there seems a forest moving down; I cry aloud, like Scotland's ancient thane, Great Birnam's word now comes to Dunsinane! Not so? Then have these cauldron witches lied! For those who come march not with martial stride; These boughs hide not a horde of mailed men Whose numbers and whose force ye dinna ken. But these are children, garlands in their hand, Who now upon the city's highway stand, Like those of old who sang Judea's psalms And strewed the Lord's highway with fragrant palms; And if they would the same Hosannas cry, No doubt they'd see the Savior passing by. Each little arm enfolds a tiny tree; Pray, children, tell me what your mission be ? Wherefore these shrubs? They may not be for shade; For what, the trowel and the tiny spade ? 102 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. You children all, I think should be in school; Mayhap you've run away and broke the rule, And come out upon the moor to play, What's that you tell me ? This is Arbor Day ? So you are out to worship Nature now, And place a lasting garland on her brow, Eternal wreath, a glory ever more Far better crown than monarch ever bore. What music when the little shovels speed To break the earth with most unhallowed greed ! , Look! in a trice those scanty graves are made Whose resurrection is the coming shade. A lesson this: Let each one plant his own, And nations spare the trees already grown, How great a good can come from little things — These twigs may be the future forest Kings. Dig deep the earth and lay the roots with care, And God will tend what you have planted there, Oft watch its growth and you may ever know How Heaven perfects what man begins below. All praise to him who gave this notion birth, They plant a tree to beautify the earth; And there we leave them in their matchless glee, Those laughing children by the laughing sea. A BURNS PILGRIMAGE. Robert Burns was born January 25, 1759, in a cabin on the outskirts of the city of Ayr; and for this reason Ayr draws to itself every year hosts of visitors. These visitors it is said, number fully twice as many as go to Stratford, which seems to argue that Burns has won more hearts than Shakespeare has won intellects. You find yourself in a 1.03 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. Burns atmosphere the moment you reach the town. One dingy little inn, that has a Tam O'Shanter sign hung over its portals, claims to be the veritable place where Tam on that fateful winter night. "Was glorious, O'er a' the ills o' life victorious." Two miles out of town is the low cottage with white- washed walls and thatched roof, which was his home. Until within a few years the house has been an inn; but now it is public property, kept as a memorial, and the entrance is guarded by a turn-stile, through which you purchase the privilege to pass by payment of two pence. The kitchen is the only room of special interest. It was in this room that Burns first saw the light, and tradition adds the poet was only a few days old when a violent storm tided away part of the roof, and mother and babe were forced to seek shelter in the cottage of a neighbor. The apartment is still kept in some semblance of its orignal state, yet after all, lacks the touch of life— it is not used, and it has the stiffness inseparable from a show room. A short walk beyond the Burns cottage stands the renowned Alio way Kirk, in which Tam O'Shanter saw the witches. It has long been a ruin. Even in Burns's time it had been abandoned, and was going to decay. Alloway Kirk is only a short distance from the "Banks and Braes o' Bonnie Doon" The Doon is an unusually pretty river that flows swift and clear between steep, wooded banks. "The Auld Brig" across which Tam O'Shanter made his wild flight is the centre of interest. It is ^ow only used by lovers of Burns, who was still a child when his residence in this vicinity terminated, his father taking a small farm on his employer's estate. Here the father died, and as Robert was the eldest of the seven children, the responsibility of managing the farm fell on his shoulders. Mean- while he had printed the first edition of his poems. This edition was quickly sold and left him twenty pounds profit. What was of more importance it won him friends in the literary world. The demand for his poems in 104 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. the following year made him master of about five hundred pounds. With part of this he took a farm near Dumfries, where he spent the happiest and most tranquil days of his life. Just around the corner, only a few steps from this cottage, is a great brown church. At the farther end of the church-yard the poet lies buried, and over his remains has been erected an ugly mausoleum, that is whol- ly foreign to the individuality of Burns himself. The poet's celebrity during his later years made him an object of interest and curiosity to strangers, and many persons passing through Dumfries would call on him. These he received at the taverns. And wherever he was, the even- ing was sure to be a merry one, for his good humor and ready wit were unfailing. A favorite resort was the Globe Hotel. Here you can see the tap-room where Burns used to sing, tell stories, and drink. If you step up- stairs you can see his punch bowl, Jean's workbox and a verse of "Comin" through the Rye" just as it was scratched by the poet himself on a window pane. It is a privilege to look on these things, for every relic of Burns and every spot associated with him has something of sacred- ness. And to Ayr and Dumfries come pilgrims from the world over to observe for themselves the scenes familiar to his eyes and celebrated in his verse. From The Land of Heather. MAN'S HIDDEN SIDE. nathan Haskell Dole. THE Moon, that earthward turns her radiant face As if she would without reserve confide Herself to us, conceals a secret side Whereof no mortal ever hopes to trace The dark-environed clue. It is a place Where strange abysmal phantasms may abide, Where Gloom's abhorrent progenies may hide Emprisoned by the ebon walls of Space. 105 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. Each one of us, however gay and bright To those that deem they know us we appear, However frankly we may keep in sight Our alternating phases through the year, Have, like the Moon, a side that lies in night, Unknown to those to whom we are most dear. THE INWARD JUDGE The soul itself its awful witness is, Say not in evil doing, "No one sees;" And so offend the conscious One within, Whose ear can hear the silences of sin Ere they find voice, whose eyes unsleeping see The secret motions of iniquity. Nor in thy folly say, "I am alone;" For seated in thy heart, as on a throne, The Ancient Judge and Witness liveth still To note thy act and thought ; and as thy ill Or good goes from thee, far beyond thy reach, The solemn Doomsman's seal is set on each. From "Institutes of Man"; J. G. Whittier, A PEARL OF GREAT PRICE. Just beyond the entrance of the guard-house a troop of Macedonian soldiers came down the street, dragging a young girl with torn dress and dishevelled hair. As the Magian paused to look at her with compassion, she broke suddenly from the hands of her tormentors, and threw herself at his feet, clasping him around the knees. She had seen his white cap and the ringed circle on his breast. "Have pity on me," she cried, "and save me, for the sake of the God of of Purity! I also am a daughter of the true religion which is taught by the Magi. My father was a merchant of 106 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. Parthia, but he is dead, and I am seized for his debts to be be sold as a slave. Save me from worse than death! Ar- taban trembled. It was the old conflict in his soul which had come to him in the palm-grove of Babylon and in the cottage at Bethle- hem — the conflict between the expectation of faith and the impulse of love. Twice the gift which he had consecrated to the worship of religion had been drawn from his hand to the service of humanity. This was the third trial, the ulji mate probation, the final and irrevocable choice. Was it his great opportunity, or his last temptation ? He could not tell. One thing only was clear in the darkness of his mind. It was inevitable. And, does not the ine- vitable come from God? One thing only was sure to his divided heart — to rescue this helpless girl would be a true deed of love. And is not love the light of the soul ? He took the pearl from his bosom Never had it seemed so luminous, so radiant, so full of tender, living lustre. He laid it in the hand of the slave. "This is thy ransom, daughter! It is the last of my treasures which I kept for the king." While he spoke the darkness of the sky thickened and shuddering tremors ran through the earth, heaving con- vulsively like one who struggles with mighty grief. The walls of the houses rocked to and fro. Stones were loosened and crashed into the street. Dust clouds filled the air. The soldiers fled in terror, reeling like drunken men. But Artaban and the girl whom he had ransomed crouched helpless beneath the wall of the Praetorium. What had he to fear ? What had he to live for ? He had given away the last remnant of his tribute for the King. He had parted with the last hope of finding Him. The quest was over, and it had failed. But even in that thought, accepted and embraced, there was peace. It was not resignation. It was not submission. It was something more profound and searching. He knew that all was well because he had done the best that de could, from day to day. He had been true to the light that had 107 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. been given to him. He had looked for more. And if he had not found it, if a failure was all that came out of his light, doubtless by that was the best that was possible. He had not seen the revelation of "Life Everlasting, Incorrup- tible and immortal." But he knew that even if he could live his life over again, it could not be otherwise than it had been. One more lingering pulsation of the earthquake quivered through the ground. A heavy tile shaken from the roof fell and struck the old man on the temple. He lay breathless and pale, with his gray head resting on the young girl's shoulders and the blood-trickling from the wound. As she bent over him, fearing that he was dead, there came a voice through the twilight very small and still, like music sounding from a distance, in which the notes are clear but the words are lost. The girl turned to see if some one had spoken from the window above them, but she saw no one. Then the old man's lips began to move, as if in answer, and she heard him say in the Parthian tongue: "Not so my Lord! For when saw I Thee hungered and fed Thee ? Or thirsty, and gave Thee drink ? When saw I Thee a stranger, and took Thee in ? When saw I thee sick or in prison, and came unto Thee ? Three and thirty years have I looked for thee; but I have never seen Thy face, nor ministered to Thee, my King." He ceased and the sweet voice came again. And again the maid heard it; very faintly and far away. But now it seemed as though she understood the words. "Verily I say unto thee, Inasmuch as thou hast done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, thou hast done it unto me." A calm radiance of wonder and joy lighted the pale face of Artaban like the first ray of dawn on a snowy mountain peak. One long, last breath of relief exhaled gently from his lips. His journey was ended, His treasures were accepted. The Other Wise Man had found the King. Henry Van Dyke. 108 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. AT MIDNIGHT. By Nathan Haskell Dole. Tell me, glowing stars on high, Do I perish when I die ? Or shall I be ever I? Will my spirit have re-birth And regain the things of worth When my dust returns to earth ? Ye too perish, ye too fall, Flash a moment — then the pall; Is that typical of all ? Boundless depths of glowing spheres, Changeless in the changing years, Seem to negative our fears ! Yet your changeless is all change! Fleeting, flying on, ye range Through the vortex vast and strange. Other creatures, other men, Cling upon you, live — and then, Do they die and live again ? I KNOW THAT MY REDEEMER LIVES. Fred Emerson Brooks Behold the marvel of the leaves; Once green, they blush with shame When Autumn with her mystic torch Sets all the woods aflame. What miracle is in the seed To carpet hill and glade? 109 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. Does Nature hold eternal life In constant ambuscade ? The grain that slept three thousand years With some Egyptian King Has grown to feed another race By miracle of Spring. I may not fathom all, but O, The joy and peace it gives, When blessed faith bids me to know That my Redeemer lives. When night falls on the ice-bound pole j The gates of Heaven seem near; A searchlight out of glory spreads Athwart the hemisphere. Aurora at the gate of Morn The drowsy watchman wakes; The Night-star sentries disappear While day song-ushered breaks. Why spins the world e'en while she swings In space none comprehends? Does not infinity begin Where calculation ends ? I may not fathom all, but O, The joy and peace it gives, When blessed faith gives me to know That my Redeemer lives. The things that fall arise again No matter where they lie; The dew and rain, when Nature wills, Get back into the sky. All things that die spring up again That doubting man may learn ; 110 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. The soul alone that never dies Must to its God return; Death and decay are but the touch Of that Celestial hand That leads you to Eternal Life; Sometime you'll understand. I may not fathom all, but O, The joy and peace it gives, When blessed faith bids me to know That my Redeemer lives. From — The "National Magazine." HAME'S HAME. (Suggested by acquaintance with a Scotch section-man, whose home White Mountain travellers notice clinging to the side of the Willey Brook Gorge.) The hills o' bonnie Scotland Are far awa'; I've left my ain auld countree Wife, bairns, an 'a'; But high i' the lift the sternies Are luikin' doon, An' in the west 5 a-salin', The silver mune. Our Ian', our hame may differ \ Be'tlateor soon; We've ane thing never changin:' — The heaven abune. —Willis Boyd Allen. WALKING. Henry D. Thoreau. I wish to speak a word for Nature, for absolute freedom and wildness, as contrasted with a freedom and culture 111 ^^^^^^^m ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. merely civil, to regard man as an inhabitant, or a part and parcel of Nature, rather than a member of society. I wish to make an extreme statement. If so I may make an em- phatic one: for there are enough champions of civilization: the minister and the school committee and every one of you will take care of that. I have met but one or two per- sons in the course of my life who understood the art of Walking — that is of taking walks, who had a genius, so to speak, for sauntering: which word is beautifully derived from idle people who roved about the country in the Middle Ages, and asked charity, till the children exclaimed, "There goes a Saunterer, a Holy-Lander." Every walk is a sort of crusade, preached by some Peter the Hermit in us. Most of my townsmen would fain walk sometimes, as I do, but they cannot. No wealth can buy the requisite leisure, freedom, and independence which are the capital in this profession. It comes only by the grace of God. It requires a direct dispensation from Heaven to become a walker. You must be born into the family of the walkers. I think I cannot preserve my health and spirits, unless I spend four hours a day at least sauntering through the woods, and over the hills and fields, absolutely free from all worldly engagements. As a man grows older, his ability to sit still and follow indoor occupations increases. He grows vespertinal in his habits as the evening of life ap- proaches; till at last he comes forth only just before sundown, and gets all the walk that he requires in half an hour. Think of a man's swinging dumb bells for his health, when those springs are bubbling up in far off pastures un- sought by him! Moreover, you must walk like a camel, which is said to be the only beast which ruminates when walking. When a traveler asked Wordsworth's servant to show him her master's study, she answered "Here is his library, but his study is out of doors." When we walk, we naturally go to the fields and woods. What would become of us if we walked only in a garden or a mall ? Of course it is no use to direct our steps to the woods, if they do not carry us thither. I am alarmed when it happens that I have walked 112 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. a mile into the woods bodily, without getting there in spirit. In my afternoon walk I would fain i orget all my morning occupations and my obligations to society. What business have I in the woods if I am thinking of something out of the woods ? Some do not walk at all; others walk in the highways; a few walk across ots. Roads are made for horses and men of business. I do not travel in them much, comparatively, because I am not in a hurry to get to any tavern or grocery or livery stable or depot to which they lead. I am a good horse to travel but not from choice a roadster. My desire for knowledge is intermittent; but my desire to bathe my head in atmospheres unknown to my feet is perennial and constant. The highest that we can attain to is not Knowledge, but Sympathy with In- telligence. Above all, we cannot afford not to live in the present. Unless our philosophy hears the cock crow in every barn-yard within our horizon, it is belated. The merit in this bird's strain, is in its freedom from all plain- tiveness. The singer can easily move us to tears or to laugh- ter, but where is he who can excite in us a pure morning joy ? When perchance a watcher in the house of mourning I hear a cockerel crow far or near, I think to myself, "There is one of us well, at at any rate," and with a sudden gush return to my senses. We had a remarkable sunset one day last November. When we reflected that this was not a solitary phenomenon, but that it would happen forever and ever an infinite number of evenings, it was more glor- ious still. So we saunter toward the Holy Land, till one day the sun shall shine more brightly than ever he has done ; shall perchance light up our whole lives with a great awakening light as warm and serene and golden as on a bank-side in autumn. 113 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. FISHING. Alfred L Donaldson. Do you know the charm of fishing on the lake With the rod that's lithe and limber, In the shadow of tall timber, And the pools of gloom that setting suns forsake ? Do you know the hush of trolling for the pike, Through the waters softly gliding And in peace and hope abiding The tingle that foregathers with a strike ? Do you know the fret of feeling for big trout In dark caverns deep and hollow Till you feel the sudden wallow Of the monster as he strikes and goes about ? Do you know the pride of landing twenty pounds, The moments tense with feeling As you slowly go on reeling And the mind foretells the story that astounds ? Do you know the wistful waiting for a bite? Till the sun grows low and mellow And at last above the yellow You perceive a limpid lantern of the night? Do you know the spell that fishing really weaves ? Is the pause it gives to thinking And the way it takes of linking The soul of man to water, clouds, and leaves. ? Have you heard the shore-born breezes as they break Into lisping soft and winning, Like far distant mandolining Drifting down the rippling reaches of the lake ? 114 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. Has the thought of crowded cities crossed your mind; Where the tired ones are panting While the sunset gleams are slanting Down behind yon solemn hills so cool and kind ? Then thank God for Izaak Walton and his book; For to him first came the vision In this Vale of Indecision, How to solve this life's equation with a hook. From 11 the outlook" THERE IS NO GOD. "There is no God," the wicked saith, "And truly it's a blessing, For what he might have done with us It's better only guessing." "There is no God," a youngster thinks, "Or really, if there may be He surely didn't mean a man Always to be a baby." "There is no God," or if there is, "The tradesman thinks, 'twere funny If he should take it ill in me To make a little money." "Whether there be," the rich man says, "It matters very little For I and mine, thank somebody Are not in want of victuals." Some others, also, to themselves, Who scarce so much as doubt it, Think there is none, when they are well, And do not think about it. 115 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. But country folks who live beneath The shadow of the steeple; The parson and the parson's wife, And mostly married people. Youths green and happy in first love, So thankful for illusion; And men caught out in what the world Calls guilt, in first confusion. And almost every one when age, Disease, or sorrows strike him, Inclines to think there is a God, Or something very like Him. ARTHUR HUGH CLOUGH ANONYMOUS STREET. BY CLINTON SCOLLAKD. There's a quaint little street in the great city's heart That once, so 'tis said, was regarded as "smart," Where Fashion decreed both its boon and its ban, And made and unmade both the matron and man. But now, well, 'tis hardly the fashion you meet As you pass down the pave of — Anonymous Street! O the routs that it saw, and will never see more, In the days that our elders refer to as "yore — " In the "water-fall" times, and the era of "hoops", When the daintiest lips for verandas said " stoops", And very few cared for a rural retreat When summer came round save — Anonymous Street. How odd would its past pose and polish appear If encountered in this, our most civilized year! — The droop-lidded curtsy, the soul thrilling sigh! Our bows are but nods unless Riche rolls by; As for sighs, — not to-day do our hearts seem to beat As they fluttered and throbbed in — Anonymous Street, X16 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. Under earth, over earth, both we soon shall be hurled ; From space do our windows look down on the world. If we ride, 'tis our "car", not our "carriage", we say; A lever not lines guides the steed of the day, Yet sometimes I dream life would be quite as sweet Could we drift back and dwell in — Anonymous Street. Permission to use from Author. HOW WE SHOULD STRUGGLE AGAINST AP- PEARANCES. Every habit and faculty is maintained and increased by the corresponding actions ; the habit of walking by walking, the habit of running by running. If you would be a good reader, read; if a writer, write. But when you shall not have read for thirty days in succession, but have done something else, you will know the consequence. In the same way, if you shall have lain down ten days, get up and attempt to make a long walk, and you will see how your legs are weakened. Generally then, if you would make anything a habit do it; if you would not make it a habit, do not do it, but accustom yourself to do something else in place of it. So it is with respect to the affections of the soul; when you have been angry you must know that not only has this evil befallen you, but that you have also increased the habit and in a manner thrown fuel upon the fire. In this manner certainly, as philosophers say, also diseases of the mind grow up. For when you have once desired money, if reason be applied to lead to a perception of the evil, the desire is stopped and the ruling faculty of our mind is restored to the original authority. But if you apply no means of cure, it no longer returns to the same state, but being again exerted by the corresponding appearance, it is inflamed to desire quicker than before; and when this takes place continually, it is henceforth hardened (made callous) and the disease of the mind confirms the love of money. He who has had a fever, and has been relieved from it, is 117 ■HMKMmB ENTERTAINER AND ENTER VAINED. not in the same state that he was before, unless he has been completely cured. Something of this kind happens also in diseases of the soul. Certain traces and blisters are left in it, and unless a man shall completely efface them, when he is again lashed on the same places, the lash will produce not blisters (wehals) but sores. If then you wish not to be of an angry temper, do not feed the habit; throw nothing on it which will increase it; at first keep quiet, and count the days on which you have not been angry. I used to be in a passion every day; now every second day; then every third, then every fourth. But if you have intermitted every thirty days make a sacrifice to God. For the habit at first begins to be weakened, and then is completely destroyed. "I have not been vexed to-day, nor the day after, nor yet on any succeeding day during two or three months ; but I took care when some exciting things happened." Be assured that you are in a good way. How then shall this be done ? Be willing at length to be approved by yourself, be willing to appear beautiful to God, desire to be in purity with your own pure self and with God. Then when any such appearance visits you, Plato says: "Have resource to expiations, go a supplicant to the temples of the averting deities." It is even sufficient if you resort to the society of noble and just men, and compare yourself with them, whether you find one who is living or dead. But in the first place, be not hurried away by the rapidity of the appearance, but say; 'Appearance, wait for me a little; let me see who you are, and what you are about; let me put you tot he test." And then do not allow the appearance to lead you on and draw lively pictures of the things which will follow ; for if you do, it will carry you off wherever it pleases. But rather bring in to oppose it some other beautiful and noble appearance, and cart out this base appearance. And if you are accustomed to be exercised in this way, you will see what shoulders, what sinews, what strength you have. But now it is only trifling words, and nothing more. This is the true athlete, the man who exercises himself against such appearances. Stay, wretch, do not be carried 118 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. away. Great is the combat, divine is the work; it is for kingship, for freedom, for happiness, for freedom from perturbation. Remember God; call on Him as a Helper and Protector, as men at sea call on the Dioscuri in a storm. For what is a greater storm than that which comes from appearances which are violent and drive away the reason ? For the storm itself, what else is it but an appearance? For take away the fear of death, and suppose as many thun- ders and lightnings as you please, and you will know what calm and serenity there is in the ruling faculty. But if you have once been defeated and say that you will conquer here- after, and then say the same again, be assured that you will at least be in so wretched a condition and so weak that you will not even know afterwards that you are doing wrong, but you will even begin to make apologies (defences) for your wrongdoing, and then you will confirm the saying of Hesiod to be true. With constant ills the dilatory strives. Epictetus. HENRY'S WOOING OF KATHARINE. Scene: An Apartment in the French King's Palace. King Henry Fair Katharine, and most fair! Will you vouchsafe to teach a soldier terms Such as will enter at a lady's ear And plead his love-suit to her gentle heart ? Katharine Your majesty shall mock at me; I cannot speak your England. King Henry O fair Katharine! If you will love me soundly with your French heart, I will be glad to hear you confess it broken- ly with your English tongue. Do you like me Kate? Katharine Pardonnez moy, I cannot tell vat is — like me. 119 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. King Henry An angel is like you, Kate; and you are like an angel. Katharine Que dit-il ?que je suis semblable a les anges ? Alice Oui, vraiment, sauf vostre grace ainsi dit-il. King Henry I said so, dear Katharine, and I must not blush to affirm it. Katharine O bon Dieu! les langues des hommes sont pleines de tromperies. King Henry What says she, fair one ? That the tongues of men are full of deceits ? Alice Oui; dat de tongues of de mans is be full of deceits; dat is de princess. King Henry The princess is the better Englishwoman. P faith, Kate, my wooing is fit for thy understanding. I am glad thou canst speak no better English; for if thou could'st, thou would'st find me such a plain king, that thou wouldst think I had sold my farm to buy my crown. I know no ways to mince it in love, but directly to say T love you.' Then, if you urge me farther than to say — 'Do you, in faith?' I wear out my suit. Give me your answer; i' faith, do, and so clap hands, and a bargain. How say you, lady? Katharine Sauf vostre honneur, me understand well. King Henry Marry, if you would put me to verses, or to dance for your sake, Kate, why you undid me; for the one, I have neither words nor measure; and for the other, I have no strength in meas- ure, yet a reasonable measure in strength If I could win a lady at leap- frog, or by vaulting into my saddle with my armor on my back, under the correction of bragging be it spoken, 120 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. Or if I might buffet for my love, or bound my horse for her favors, I could lay on like a butcher, and sit like a jack- a-napes, never off; but before God, Kate, I cannot look greenly, nor gasp out my eloquence, nor I have no cun- ning in protestation; only downright oaths, which I never use till urged, nor never break for urging. If thou canst love a fellow of this temper Kate, whose face is not worth sun-burning, that never looks in his glass for love of anything he sees there, let thine eye be thy cook. I speak to thee plain soldier; if thou canst love me for this, take me ; if not, to say to thee that I shall die, is true; but for thy love, by the Lord, no; yet I love thee too. And while thou livest, dear Kate, take a fellow of plain and uncoined constancy; for he perforce must do thee right, because he hath not the gift to woo in other places; for these fellows of infinite tongue, that can rhyme themselves into ladies' favors, they do always reason themselves out again. What, ! a speaker is but a prater; a rhyme is but a ballad. A good leg will fall ; a straight back will stoop ; a black beard will turn white; a curled pate will grow bald; a fair face will wither; a full eye will wax hollow; but a good heart, Kate, is the sun and the moon; or rather the sun and not the moon, for it shines bright, and never changes, but keeps his course truly. If thou would have such a 121 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. one, take me, and take me, take a soldier; take a soldier, take a king: and what sayest thou then to my love ? Speak, my fair, and fairly, I pray thee. Katharine Is it possible dat I should love de enemy of France ? King Henry No, it is not possible you should love the enemy of France, Kate; but in loving me you should love the friend of France, for I love France so well that I will not part with a village of it; I will have it all mine ; and, Kate, when France is mine and I am yours, then yours is France, and you are mine. Katharine I cannot tell vat is dat. King Henry No, Kate ? I will tell thee in French, which I am sure will hang upon my tongue like a new-married wife about her husband's neck, hardly to be shook off. — Quand fai la possession de France, et quand vous avez la posses- sion de moi (let me see, what then? Saint Dennis be my speed!) done vostre est France, et vous estes mienne, It is as easy for me, Kate, to conquer the kingdom, as to speak so much more French. I shall never move thee in French, unless it be to laugh at me. Katharine Sauf vostre honneur, le Francois que vous parlez, est meilleur que l'Anglois le- quel je parle. King Henry No, faith, is't not, Kate; but thy speaking of my tongue, and I thine, most truly falsely, must needs be granted to be much at one. But Kate, dost thou understand thus much English ? Canst thou love me? 122 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. Katharine I cannot tell. King Henry Can any of your neighbors tell, Kate ? I'll ask them. Come, I know thou lovest me; and at night when you come into your closet, you'll question this gentle- woman about me; and I know, Kate, you will to her, dispraise those parts in me that you love with your heart: but, good Kate, mock me mercifully, the rather, gentle princess, because I love thee cruelly * # * * Katharine I do not know dat. King Henry Now, fie upon my false French! By mine honor, in true English, I love thee, Kate, by which honor I dare not swear thou lovest me; yet my blood begins to flatter me that thou dost, notwithstanding the poor and un- tempting effect of my visage. And therefore tell me most fair Katharine, will you have me? Put off your maiden blushes ; avouch the thoughts, of your heart with the looks of an empress ; take me by the hand, and say Harry of England, I am thine which word thou shalt no sooner bless mine ear withal, but I will tell thee aloud England is thine, Ireland is thine, France is thine, and Henry Plan- tagenet is thine; who, though I speak it before his face, if he be not fellow with the best king, thou shalt find the best king of good fellows. Come, your answer in broken music, — for thy voice is music, and thy English broken ; therefore, queen of all, Kath- arine, break thy mind to me in broken English; wilt thou have me? 123 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. Katharine Dat is as it shall please de roi mon pere. King Henry Nay, it will please him well, Kate ; it shall please him, Kate. Katharine Den it soi also content me. King Henry Upon that I kiss your hand, and I call you my queen. Shakespeare. 124 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. CURIOSITY. Paul Laurence Dunbar. Mammy's in de kitchen, an' de do' is shet; All de piccaninnies climb an' tug an' sweat, Gittin to de winder, stickin' dah lak flies, Evah one ermong us des all nose an eyes. "Whut she cookin', Isaac?" "Whut she cookin, Jake,? "Is hit sweet pertaters? Is hit pie or cake?" But we could'n' mek out even whah we stood Whut was mammy cookin' dat could smell so good? Mammy spread de winder, an' she frown an' frown, How de piccaninnies come a-tumblin' down! Den she say: "Ef you-all keeps a-peepin' in, How I'se gwine to whup you, my! 't 'ill be a sin! Needn' come a-snimn' an' a-nosin'. hyeah, 'Ca'se I knows my business, nevah feah." Won't somebody tell us — how I wish dey would! — Whut is mammy cookin' dat it smells so good? We know she means business, an' we dassent stay Dough it's mighty tryin' fuh to go erway; But we goes a-troopin' down de ol' woodtrack; 'Twell dat steamin' kitchen brings us stealin' back, Climb in' an' a-peekin' so's to see inside. Whut on earf kin mammy be so sha'p to hide ? I'd des up an' tell folks w'en I knowed I could Ef I was a-cookin' t'ings dat smelt so good. Mammy in de oven an' I see huh smile; Moufs mus' be a-wat'in roun', hyeah fuh a mile; Den we almos' hollah ez we hu'ies down, 'Ca'se hit 's apple dumplin's big an' fat an' brown! W'en de do' is opened, solemn lak an' slow, Wisht you see us settin' all dah in a row Innercent an' p'opah, des lak chillun should, W'en dey mammy's cookin' t'ings dat smell so good. 125 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. HE WHO DIED AT AZAN. From the Arabic SIR EDWIN ARNOLD'S TRANSLATION He who died at Azan sends Hope to comfort all his friends. Faithful friends! It lies, I know Pale and white and cold aa snow, And ye say "Abdullah's dead!" Weeping at the feet and head! I can see your falling tears, I can hear your sighs and prayers ; Yet I smile and whisper this — "I am not the thing you kiss ; Cease your tears, and let it lie; It was mine, it is not I." Sweet friends! what the women lave For the last sleep of the grave, Is a hut which I am quitting, Is a garment no more fitting, Is a cage from which, at last, Like a bird my soul hath passed. Love the inmate, not the room — The wearer, not the garb — the plume Of the eagle, not the bars That kept him from those splendid stars. Loving friends! Be wise and dry Straightway every weeping eye What ye lift upon the bier Is not worth a single tear. 'Tis an empty sea-shell — one Out of which the pearl is gone; The shell is broken, it lies there; 126 ENT RTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. The pearl, the all , the soul is here. 'Tis an earthern jar, whose lid Allah sealed, the while it hid That treasure of his treasury, A mind that loved him; let it lie! Let the shard be earth's once more, Since the gold is in His store! Allah glorious! Allah good! Now thy world is understood; Now the long, long wonder ends; Yet ye weep, my foolish friends, While the man whom ye call dead, In unspoken bliss, instead, Lives and loves you; lost 'tis true, For the light that shines for you; But in the light ye cannot see Of undisturbed felicity — In a perfect paradise, And a life that never dies. Farewell, friends; but not farewell; Where I am, ye, too, shall dwell. I am gone before your face, A moment's worth, a little space. When ye come where I have stepped Ye will wonder why ye wept; Ye will know, by true love taught, That here is all, and there is naught. Weep awhile, if ye are fain — Sunshine still must follow rain ; Only not at death — for death, Now we know, is that first breath Which our souls draw when we enter Life, which is of all life center. m ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. Be ye certain all seems love, Viewed from Allah's throne above; Be ye stout of heart , and come Bravely onward to your home! La-il Allah Allah la! O love divine! O love alway! He who died at Azan gave This to those who made his grave. 128 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. HIS FIRST LOVE. Margaret Sangster. His first love ? Yes, I knew her very well — Yes, she was young and beautiful, like you ; With cheeks rose-flushed, and lovely eyes that fell If people praised her overmuch, but true And fearless, flashing out, as blue eyes can At any cruelty to beast or man. Her voice ? 'Twas very gentle, sweet and low, With tones to hush a tired child to sleep; In every cadence clear, its silvery flow Beside a sick-bed had a charm so deep Its spell could banish creeping waves of pain, Bring easeful quiet to the fevered brain. Her hands? Well, dear, they were not quite so small As those that trifle with your dainty laces, A little browned perhaps, they had such call To carry sunshine into shady places; Less delicate than yours, and yet I doubt If one who loved her ever found it out. Her feet ? Sure never steps so swift and steady Went straight as arrow flying to a goal; If duty summoned her, the ever ready To minister to any ailing soul. Dear feet that followed where the Master led, And set their prints where first He'd left His tread! His first love ? Oh, you do begin to see That he might love her dearly, and that yet His manhood's love to you might guerdon be, Upon your woman's brow, its coronet, Dear girl, accept the gift, There is no other First love so holy as she gained — his mother Mother's Day in U. S. A. Second Sunday in May. 129 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. A HOME SONG. I turned an ancient poet's book, And found upon the page: "Stone walls do not a prison make, Nor iron bars a cage." Yes, that is true, and something more: You'll find, where'er you roam, That marble floors and gilded walls Can never make a home. But every house where Love abides And Friendship is a guest, Is surely home, and home, sweet home, For there the heart can rest. — Henry Van Dyke, in Country Life. EULOGY ON THE DOG. By George G. Vest. Gentlemen of the Jury: — The best friend a man has in this world may turn against him and become his enemy. His son or daughter that he has reared with loving care may prove ungrateful. Those who are nearest and dearest to us, those whom we trust with our happiness and our good name, may become traitors to their faith. The money that a man has he may lose. It flies away from him, perhaps when he needs it most. A man's reputation may be sacrificed in a moment of ill-considered action. The people who are prone to fall on their knees to do us honor when success is with us may be the first to throw the stone of malice when failure settles its cloud upon our heads. The one absolutely unselfish friend that man can have in this selfish world, the one that never deserts him, the one that never proves un- grateful or treacherous, is his dog. Gentlemen of the jury, a man's dog stands by him in prosperity and in poverty, in health and in sickness. He will sleep on the cold ground, where the wintry winds blow and the snow drives fiercely, if only he may be near his 130 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. master's side. He will kiss the hand that has no food to offer, he will lick the wounds and sores that come in encounter with the roughness of the world. He guards the sleep of his pauper master as if he were a prince. When all other friends desert ' he remains. When riches take wings and reputation falls to pieces he is as constant in his love as the sun in its journey through the heavens. If fortune drives the master forth an outcast in the world, friendless and home- less, the faithful dog asks no higher privilege than that of accompanying him to guard against danger, to fight against his enemies, and when the last scene of all comes, and death takes the master in its embrace and his body is laid away in the cold ground, no matter if all other friends pursue their way, there by his graveside will the noble dog be found, his head between his paws, his eyes sad but open in alert watchfulness, faithful and true even to death. One of the most famous speeches ever made by the late Senator Vest, of Missouri, was made in the course of the trial of a man who had wantonly shot a dog belonging to a neigh- bor. Vest represented the plaintiff, who demanded $200 da- mages. When Vest finished speaking, the jury, after two minutes' deliberation, awarded the plaintiff $500. The full text of the speech is printed above. RAIN. MRS. A. K. CARREL Rainin'? Well, I'm thinkin' mebbe, Someone's suited, if you ain't : An' the grass an' trees are freshenin' So's they'd had a coat of paint. Someone didn't want the sunshine, Someone needed this same rain; We can't all be suited always, Things will come your way again. 131 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. Straighten out your puckered forehead, 'Tain't becomin' worn in folds; Folks can tell by merely lookin' If a body frets an' scolds. Turn your mouth a leetle upward At the comers. Don't you know If you keep your lips a-smilin', Discontent haint room to grow? Hear that robin red-breast holler — Fairly revellin' in song: He don't care how hard it's pourin', He don't care a mite how long, Though he's gettin' wet an' soppin', He says weather all depends On the state of one's own feelin's What is best the good Lord sends. One long face is worse than storm clouds 'Cause it's shut inside the door. Just be cheerful an' be happy Or pretend to, if no more. Then you'll find there ain't no weather Goin' to make you have the blues, An' you'll never be a-wishin' For some other feller's shoes. LYING ABED. Gelett Burgess. There is an old story about a hard-working man who wished to be so rich that he could afford to have a negro servant call him every morning and say: "Seven o'clock, massa; it's all right, don't get up unless you want to!" My alarm clock does a similar service for me when it ex- plodes at seven o'clock and awakens me to the bliss of lying 132 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. abed. I cannot always afford this luxury, but when it comes within my means, it is like cold water in a thirsty land. Every sip of it is pleasure. At quarter past seven I'm called again, this time by an admonitory voice, and at half after the hour the peremptory summons comes, warning me of an overflowing bath. During these thirty minutes I coin soph- istries. There are many names which describe this sweet, delicious gratifying state, and all hypnotically suggestive. I count them over longingly, as a miser counts his hoard; sleep — this is my most valuable coin, pure gold, for it will buy me dreams. But sleep is intoxication and now I would but dally with the wine of slumber. From sleep various hues of sleepiness shade upward into full consciouness like the tints of a rainbow. These are all included in the act of donning. Dorming may, like a tenpound note, be divided into conditions of lesser denomination. Let me make the change for you, for I love to dorm, and would spend my dorming little by little. There's stupor, too heavy for such use, like a crownpiece, and torpor, which is as unsatisfactory. Then come drowsi- ness and dozing, two valuable media, by which we can come to possess the most exquisite delights. Mere listlessness will bring the trifling joys of mental truancy, and languor captures what is left. These are my morning treasures, with which my morning nap is as well filled as was ever the purse of Fortunatus. My half-hour is divisible, moreover, into three distinct periods governed by the body, the intellect, and the will. Even if my waking time is shorter, the sequence is the same, and I rehearse the same processes of thought. First, comes the physical stage, when I give myself up almost completely to the pleasures of lying abed, This portion of my time is the most delightful, for my conscience is not, as yet, aroused to torment me. There are more reasons to be discovered for lying abed in the morning than I care to tabulate. But reasons, unfortun- ately, are not excuses. I spend the first third of my trust with 133 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. a colloquy between two of myselves, who consume their energy in an argument over a semi-unconscious ego. My health, says one, requires that I should sleep, for I went to bed late, and he argues with fatuous zeal of the necessity for rest. The other describes the early morning freshness the joys of matutinal splendors, and points out the fact, that, once tubbed, I will forget this criminal listlessness. And so back and forth the shuttle of thought weaves a seemingly logical fabric, while that delicious, inert something which is my body, tranquilly awaits the final arbitration. Gravity soothes me — the mere pressure of my weight upon the bed is entrancing. To turn, and vary the pressure, is a ravish- ing delight, and my brain swoons, and returns again to semi- consciousness, like a diver plunging for pearls. But meanwhile the sun and the flies and the gossip of birds have come to alarm my responsibility, and I approach, insensibly, the second period. This is the mental stage of my little game with myself. My monitor of duty has vanquished my physical condition, and, if I am to win a few moments respite, I must seek more cogent reasons for my continued lying abed. To this end, I claim the privilege of planning my day's work. D'Artag- nan was used to prepare his day's campaign, I remember, during this torpid time, and I can do likewise. I will do so-and-so when I arise, and I go over my projects as slowly as I dare, attempting to produce an attractive program. How many schemes have I not built, how many conquests conceived that were destined to die, still-born! So I fool myself with appearance of activity, but, the while, I must confess that the sheets are as cool and smooth as ever, my head rests as heavily upon the pillow, the tiny breeze from my window charms, without exciting me. And now I chance to open my eyes, to watch the mote, dancing in the sunbeam cast athwart my bed, and, beside it, I catch a glimpse of Duty, standing like a ghost, beckoning me towards my bath. The voices of running water tease and annoy my mind, distracting it from its important affairs. A clatter below stairs tells of hideous activities already in 134 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. progress. Then, with a shocking jerk, my will struggles through my lethargy and shirieks its awful command. This is the moral stage of my lying abed. It is short, but terrific in its energy. I am already cowed, and expect my doom. I have given up all hope of reprieve. The necessary means only remain to be thought out — some preliminary conditions to be discussed, and then I must surrender. My capitulation is gradual. First, I remove the covers shrinklingly, one by one, becoming, by easy or rather by difficult stages, more and more uncomfortable. At last my body has succumbed to the approaching inevit- able. My will rallies for its last charge. I decide, against my better judgment, to arise as soon as I shall have counted ten, and I proceed, with mechanical precision to beat the time one — two — three — . I allow myself this last moment of grace to close my eyes, as a con- demned criminal is permitted his choice of food. Four, five, six, seven — I try to forget what is to happen, as the victim drowns his despair in drink. Eight, nine — I brace myself for the ordeal — it is the adjustment of the noose. Ten ! — I spring from bed with gladness. I have suffered a resurrection, and the joy of living floods my soul. I am the sinner come to repentance, I am the butterfly that has just crawled from its chrysalis! It is over, and I am alive again. NOW. Sometimes a single hour Rings thru' a long life-time, As from a temple tower There often falls a chime From blessed bells, that seems To fold in Heaven's dreams Our spirits round a shrine, Hath such an hour been Thine? 135 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. Sometimes — who knoweth why ? One minute holds a power That shadows ev'ry hour, Dialed in life's sky. A cloud that is a speck When seen from far away May be a storm, and wreck The joys of everyday. Sometimes it seems not much, 'Tis scarcely felt at all — Grace gives a gentle touch To hearts for once and all, Which in the spirits' strife May all unnoticed be, And yet it rules a life; Hath this e'er come to thee ? Sometimes one little word, Whispered sweet and fleet, That scarcely can be heard, Our ears will sudden meet, And all life's hours along That whisper may vibrate And, like a wizard's song, Decide our ev'ry fate. Sometimes a sudden look, That falleth from some face, Will steal into each nook Of life, and leave its trace; To haunt us to the last, And sway our ev'ry will Thro' all the days to be, For goodness or for ill; Hath this e'er come to thee ? 136 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. Sometimes one minute folds The hearts of all the years, Just like the heart that holds The Infinite in tears; There be such thing as this— Who knoweth why, or how? A life of woe or bliss Hangs on some little now, PATIENT MERCY JONES. BY JAMES T. FIELDS. "Let us venerate the bones Of patient Mercy Jones, Who lies underneath these stones." This is her story as once told to me By him who still loved her, as all men might see — Darius, her husband, his age seventy years, A man of few words, but, for her, many tears. Darius and Mercy were born in Vermont; Both children were christened at baptismal font In the very same place, on the very same day — (Not much acquainted just then, I dare say). The minister sprinkled the babies, and said, "Who knows but this couple some time may be wed, And I be the parson to join them together, For weal or for woe, through all sorts of weather !" Well, they, were married, and happier folk Never put both their heads in the same loving yoke. They were poor, they worked hard, but nothing could try The patience of Mercy, or cloud her bright eye. She was clothed with Content as a beautiful robe; She had griefs — who has not on this changeable globe? — But at such times she seemed like the sister of Job. 137 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. She was patient with dogmas, where light never dawns, She was patient with people who trod on her lawns ; She was patient with folks who said blue skies were gray, And dentists and oxen that pulled the wrong way; She was patient with phrases no husband should utter, She was patient with cream that declined to be butter; She was patient with buyers with nothing to pay, She was patient with talkers with nothing to say; She was patient with millers whose trade was to cozen, And grocers who counted out ten to the dozen; She was patient with bunglers and fault-finding churls, And tall, awkward lads who came courting her girls; She was patient with crockery no art could mend, And chimneys that smoked every day the wrong end ; She was patient with reapers who never would sow, And long-winded callers who never would go; She was patient with relatives when, uninvited They came, and devoured, then complained they were slighted; She was patient with crows that got into the corn, And other dark deeds out of wantonness born; She was patient with lightning that burned up the hay, She was patient with poultry unwilling to lay; She was patient with rogues who drank cider too strong, She was patient with sermons that lasted too long ; She was patient with boots that tracked up her clean floors, She was patient with peddlers and other smooth bores ; She was patient with children who disobeyed rules, And, to crown all the rest, she was patient with fools. The neighboring husbands all envied the lot Of Darius, and wickedly got up a plot To bring o'er his sunshine an unpleasant spot. "You think your wife's temper is proof against fate, But we know of something her smiles will abate. When she gets out of wood, and for more is inclined, Just send home the crookedest lot you can find ; 138 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. Let us pick it out, let us go and choose it, And we'll bet you a farm when she comes for to use it Her temper will crack like Nathan Dow's cornet, And she'll be as mad as an elderly hornet." Darius was piqued, and he said, with a vutn, "I'll pay for the wood, if you'll send it hum; But depend on it, neighbors, no danger will come." Home came the gnarled roots, and a crookeder load Never entered the gate of a Christian abode. A ram's horn was straighter than any stick in it; It seemed to be wriggling about every minute ; It would not stand up, and it would not lie down ; It twisted the vision of one-half the town. To look at such fuel was really a sin, For the chance was Strabismus would surely set in. Darius said nothing to Mercy about it: It was crooked wood— even she could not doubt it: But never a harsh word escaped her sweet lips, Any more than if the old snags were smooth chips. She boiled with them, baked with them, washed with them through The long winter months, and none ever knew But the wood was as straight as Mehitable Drew, Who was straight as a die, or a gun, or an arrow, And who made it her business all male hearts to harrow. When the pile was burned up, and they needed more wood, "Sure, now," mused Darius, "I shall catch it good; She has kept her remarks all condensed for the Spring And my ears, for the trick, now deserve well to sing. She never did scold me, but now she will pout, And say with such wood she is nearly worn out." 139 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. But Mercy, unruffled, was calm, like the stream That reflects back at evening the sun's perfect beam; And she looked at Darius, and lovingly smiled, And she made this request with a temper unriled: "We are wanting more fuel, I'm sorry to say; I burn a great deal too much every day, And I mean to use less than I have in the past; But get, if you can, dear a load like the last; I never had wood that I liked half so well — Do see who has nice crooked fuel to sell. There's nothing that's better then wood full of knots, It fays so complete round the kettles and pots, And washing and cooking are really like play When the sticks nestle close in so charming a way." from "Harper's Magazine. HORACE ON CHARITABLE JUDGMENTS. True love, we know, is blind; defects that blight The loved one's charms escape the lover's sight. Nay, pass for beauties ; as Balbinus shows A passion for the wen on Agna's nose Oh, with our friendships that we did the same. And screened our blindness under virtue's name I For we are bound to treat a friend's defect With touch most tender, and a fond respect ; Even as a father treats a child who hints The urchin's eyes are roguish, if he squints; Or if he be as stunted, short, and thick, As Sisyphus, the dwarf, will call him "chick!" If crooked all ways, in back, in legs, and thighs, With softening phrases will the flaw disguise. So, if one friend too close a fist betrays, Let us ascribe it to his frugal ways. Or is another — such we often find, — To flippant jest and braggart talk inclined, 'Tis only from a kindly wish to try 140 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. TAMMY. Baroness Nairne. I wish I kenned my Maggie's mind, If she's for me or Tammy; To me she is but passing kind, She's caulder still to Tammy, And yet she lo'es me no that ill, If I believe her granny; O sure, she must be wond'rous nice, If she'll no hae me or Tammy. I've spiered her ance, I've spiered her twice, And still she says she canna; I'll try her again and that mak's thrice And thrice they say is canny. Wi' him she'll hae a chaise and pair Wi' me she'll hae shanks naggie; He's auld and black, I'm young and fair, She'll surely ne'er tak' Tammy, But if she's a fule, and slightlies me, I'll e'en draw up wi' Nancy; There's as gude fish into the sea As e'er cam' out, I fancy, And though I say't that shou'dna say't, I'm owre gude a match for Maggie, Sae mak' up your mind without delay, Are you for me or Tammy ? UP HILL. Does the road wind up-hill all the way ? Yes, to the very end. Will the days journey take the whole long day ? From morn to night, my friend. 141 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. To make the time 'mongst friends go lightly by Anothers' tongue is rough and overfree, Let's call it bluntness and sincerity; Another's choleric; him we must screen, As cursed with feelings for his peace too keen. This is the course, methinks, that makes a friend, And, having made, secures him to the end. But is there for the night a resting place, A roof for when the slow dark hours begin ? May not the darkness hide it from my face ? You cannot miss that inn. Shall I meet other wayfarers at night, Those who have gone before? Then must I knock, or call, when just in sight ? They will not keep you standing at that door. Shall I find comfort, travel-sore and weak? Of labor you shall find the sum. Will there be beds for me and all who seek ? Yea, beds for all who come, Christina Georgina Rosetti. 142 ENTERTAINER AND ENTERTAINED. SONNET. "To-morrow" and "To-day" and "Yesterday", Time's trinity whose flight no hand can stay— Each one of which into the other leads, And from the other makes its constant way. To-day to Yesterday too soon proceeds, To-morrow to To-day as quickly speeds, The hasting panorama glides as tho To mock, at contemplated human deeds. Live then To-day; for out of it doth grow Your past and future, unto it you owe Whatever was or will be. Time's estate Entire, is now and here to-day. Let no Regrets for Yesterday procrastinate, To-morrow's dawn do not anticipate. Frem Omar Sonnets and Trans by Lefra Lyrics. Oliver Opp Dyke. 143 fEks $ I Ml Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide Treatment Date: Nov. 2007 PreservationTechnologies A WORLD LEADER IN COLLECTIONS PRESERVATION 111 Thomson Park Drive Cranberry Township, PA 16066 (724) 779-2111 One copy del. to Cat. Div. m