tion: I want to hear the old band play]

{125}

Yer _new_ band ma'by beats it, but the _old band's_ what I said--
It allus 'peared to kind o' chord with somepin' in my head;
And, whilse I'm no musicianer, when my blame' eyes is jes'
Nigh drownded out, and Mem'ry squares her jaws and sort o' says
She _won't_ ner _never_ will fergit, I want to jes' turn in
And take and light right out o' here and git back West ag'in
And _stay_ there, when I git there, where I never haf to say
I want to hear the _old_ band play.

[Illustration: The old band--tailpiece]

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[Illustration: My friend--headpiece]

MY FRIEND

"He is my friend," I said,--
"Be patient!" Overhead
The skies were drear and dim;
And lo! the thought of him
Smiled on my heart--and then
The sun shone out again!

"He is my friend!" The words
Brought summer and the birds;
And all my winter-time
Thawed into running rhyme
And rippled into song,
Warm, tender, brave, and strong.

{127}

And so it sings to-day.--
So may it sing alway!
Though waving grasses grow
Between, and lilies blow
Their trills of perfume clear
As laughter to the ear,
Let each mute measure end
With "Still he is thy friend."

[Illustration: My friend--tailpiece]

{128}

[Illustration: The traveling man--headpiece]

THE TRAVELING MAN

I

Could I pour out the nectar the gods only can,
I would fill up my glass to the brim
And drink the success of the Traveling Man,
And the house represented by him;
And could I but tincture the glorious draught
With his smiles, as I drank to him then,
And the jokes he has told and the laughs he has laughed,
I would fill up the goblet again--

And drink to the sweetheart who gave him good-by
With a tenderness thrilling him this
Very hour, as he thinks of the tear in her eye
That salted the sweet of her kiss;
To her truest of hearts and her fairest of hands
I would drink, with all serious prayers,
Since the heart she must trust is a Traveling Man's,
And as warm as the ulster he wears.

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[Illustration: Who have met him with smiles and with cheer]

{131}

II

I would drink to the wife, with the babe on her knee,
Who awaits his returning in vain--
Who breaks his brave letters so tremulously
And reads them again and again!
And I'd drink to the feeble old mother who sits
At the wa