And irrigate it with perpetual streams;
A meadow where the sportive insects hum,
Like listless topers singing o'er their cups,
And ply their forelegs like a man who tries
With maimed hands to use the flint and steel.

THE BATTLE

There where the horsemen rode strongest
I rode out in front of them,
Hurled forth my battle-shout and charged them;
No man thought blame of me.
Antar! they cried; and their lances
Well-cords in slenderness, pressed to the breast
Of my war-horse still as I pressed on them.
Doggedly strove we and rode we.
Ha! the brave stallion! Now is his breast dyed
With blood drops, his star-front with fear of them!
Swerved he, as pierced by the spear points.
Then in his beautiful eyes stood the tears
Of appealing, words inarticulate.
If he had our man's language,
Then had he called to me.
If he had known our tongue's secret,
Then had he cried to me.

* * * * *

Deep through the sand drifts the horsemen
Charged with teeth grimly set,
Urging their war-steeds;
I urged them spurred by my eagerness forward
To deeds of daring, deeds of audacity.

[6] Huart, "A History of Arabian Literature," 13.

[7] Holden, "Library of the World's Best Literature," 586.

[8] _Not in Text_

[9] Edward S. Holden, "Library of the World's Best Literature," I, p. 587.

[10] Richard Gottheil, "Library of the World's Best Literature," II, 674.

DOCUMENTS

EIGHTEENTH CENTURY SLAVES AS ADVERTISED BY THEIR MASTERS

In some respects the eighteenth century slave was better off than the
Negro of today. As a rule no Negro can now get his name into the leading
newspapers unless he commits a heinous crime. At that time, however,
masters in offering slaves for sale and advertising fugitives unconsciously
spoke of their virtues as well as their shortcomings, that the public
might be fully informed as to the character of the blacks. Through these
advertisements, therefore, we can get at the very life of the Negro when
slavery was still of the patriarchal sort and can thus contrast his then
favorable condition with the wretchedness of the institution after it
assumed its economic aspect in the nineteenth century. We observe that the
eighteenth century slave was rapidly taking over modern civilization in
the West Indies and in the thirteen colo