the world of worlds to this,
Through lowliest mind, sends conscious glow.

Not clearer through the density
Of darkling woods, do I behold
The intervening flecks of gold
Reveal unseen intensity.

In this deep truth I hold the key
That locks me from a world of pain,
And opens unto boundless gain
Of sweet ideal mystery.

And though I may not hope to climb
Above the level commonplace,
Or touch that vital growth of grace
Which shapes the fruit of deathless rhyme,

Yet, will I bless the Gracious Power
Which giveth strength to walk the mead,
And catch the sometime wafted seed
That ripens to the quiet flower.

Or, when, foot-weary with the day,
My longing spirit only feels
The tremor of the distant wheels
That bear some poet on his way;

I'll deem it very kindly chance
That gives the apprehension clear
To feel the pageant, far or near,
That moves to other's utterance.

And if I can but feebly keep
With reverent grace my share of good,
And kneeling, gather daily food
By gleaning, where my betters reap,

Yet will I bless the Hand Divine
That with the appetite for least,
Transforms into perpetual feast
The homely bread, the household wine;

And place it foremost of my joys,--
Not ranking those that from above
Assume on earth the name of Love,--
That feast, which never ends or cloys.

THE ASH TREE.

'The Ash for nothing ill.'--SPENSER.

'The Ash asks not a depth of fruitful mould
But, like frugality, on little means
It thrives; and high o'er creviced ruins spreads
Its ample shade, or on the naked rock,
That nods in air, with graceful limbs depends.'--BIDLAKE'S _Year_.

'Nature seems t' ordain
The rocky cliff for the wild Ash's reign.'--DRYDEN'S VIRGIL.

Those who would seek the primitive signification of all objects in
Nature, unroll their symbolism, and thereby attain the first historical
groundwork of poetry, must bear in mind that this system was formed,
and, indeed, ripely developed, in an age anterior to all written records
of humanity. By ascertaining what words are common to the Indo-Germanic
languages, we may easily find how far in civilization those had
progressed who spoke the old Aryan, the common mother of the languages
of Europe, India, and Persia, ere they parted to form new tribes, with
new tongues. So, by com