Works

I.
The great procession came up the street,
With clatter of hoofs and tramp of feet;
There was General Jones to guide the van,
And Corporal Jinks, his right-hand man;
And each was riding his high horse,...

If I'd a million millions -
Just think! a million millions! -
What wouldn't I do - what couldn't I do -
If I'd a million millions?
From every forest's finest tree
My many-gabled house should be;...

Raise the light a little, Jim,
For it's getting rather dim,
And, with such a storm a-howlin', 'twill not do to douse the glim.
Hustle down the curtains, Lu;
Poke the fire a little, Su;...

Go set the table, Mary, an' let the cloth be white!
The hungry city children are comin' here to-night;
The children from the city, with features pinched an' spare,...

[From Arthur Selwyn's Note-book.]

[More Ways Than One.]

I was present, one day
Where both layman and priest
Worshipped God in a way
That was startling, at least:
Over thirty in place...

I.
If you to me be cold,
Or I be false to you,
The world will go on, I think,
Just as it used to do;
The clouds will flirt with the moon,
The sun will kiss the sea,...

[From Arthur Selwyn's Note-book.]

[Only A Box.]


Only a box, secure and strong,
Rough, and wooden, and six feet long,
Lying here in the drizzling rain,...

By the edge of the Atlantic, where the waves of Freedom roar,
And the breezes of the ocean chant a requiem to the shore,
On the Nation's eastern hill-tops, where its corner-stone was laid,...

Out of the old house, Nancy--moved up into the new;
All the hurry and worry is just as good as through.
Only a bounden duty remains for you and I--...

[As Told in 1880.]

Year of '71, children, middle of the fall,
On one fearful night, children, we well-nigh lost our all.
True, it wa'n't no great sum we had to lose that night,...

I, who was always counted, they say,
Rather a bad stick any way,
Splintered all over with dodges and tricks,
Known as "the worst of the Deacon's six;"
I, the truant, saucy and bold,...

Over the hill to the poor-house I'm trudgin' my weary way--

"OVER THE HILL TO THE POOR-HOUSE, I'M TRUDGIN' MY WEARY WAY."

I, a woman of seventy, and only a trifle gray--...

Yes, it's straight and true, good Preacher, every word that you have said;
Do not think these tears unmanly - they're the first ones I have shed!
But they kind o' beat and pounded 'gainst my aching heart and brain,...

I'd rather sit here, Mr. Sheriff - up near to the end of the car;
We won't do so much advertising if we stay in the seat where we are.
That sweet little dude saw the bracelets that you on my wrists have bestowed,...

He lay on the beach, just out of the reach
Of waves that had cast him by:
With fingers grim they reached for him
As often as they came nigh.
The shore-face brown had a surly frown,...

The Editor sat in his sanctum, his countenance furrowed with care,
His mind at the bottom of business, his feet at the top of a chair,
His chair-arm an elbow supporting, his right hand upholding his head,...

There is a chillness in the air--
A coldness in the smile of day;
And e'en the sunbeam's crimson glare
Seems shaded with a tinge of gray.

Weary of journeys to and fro,...

I've been to the old farm-house, good-wife,
Where you and I were wed;
Where the love was born to our two hearts
That now lies cold and dead.
Where a long-kept secret to you I told,...

Oh the elements varied - the exquisite plan -
That are used in constructing the lovely young man!
His face he has easily made to possess
The expression of nothing within to express;...

[From Arthur Selwyn's Note-book.]

[The March Of The Children.]



List to the sound of the drumming!
Gaily the children are coming;
Sweet as the smile of a fairy,...