FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   165   166   167   168   169   170   171   172   173   174   175   176   177   178   179   180   181   182   183   184   185   186   187   188   189  
190   191   192   193   194   195   196   197   198   199   200   201   202   203   204   205   206   207   208   209   210   211   212   213   214   >>   >|  
Hushed Anna's busy wheel, and laid its spell On the black boy who grimaced by the hearth, To solemnize his shining face of mirth; Only the old clock ticked amidst the dearth Of sound; nor eye was raised nor hand was stirred In that soul-sabbath, till at last some word Of tender counsel or low prayer was heard. Then guests, who lingered but farewell to say And take love's message, went their homeward way; So passed in peace the guileless Quaker's day. His was the Christian's unsung Age of Gold, A truer idyl than the bards have told Of Arno's banks or Arcady of old. Where still the Friends their place of burial keep, And century-rooted mosses o'er it creep, The Nurnberg scholar and his helpmeet sleep. And Anna's aloe? If it flowered at last In Bartram's garden, did John Woolman cast A glance upon it as he meekly passed? And did a secret sympathy possess That tender soul, and for the slave's redress Lend hope, strength, patience? It were vain to guess. Nay, were the plant itself but mythical, Set in the fresco of tradition's wall Like Jotham's bramble, mattereth not at all. Enough to know that, through the winter's frost And summer's heat, no seed of truth is lost, And every duty pays at last its cost. For, ere Pastorius left the sun and air, God sent the answer to his life-long prayer; The child was born beside the Delaware, Who, in the power a holy purpose lends, Guided his people unto nobler ends, And left them worthier of the name of Friends. And to! the fulness of the time has come, And over all the exile's Western home, From sea to sea the flowers of freedom bloom! And joy-bells ring, and silver trumpets blow; But not for thee, Pastorius! Even so The world forgets, but the wise angels know. KING VOLMER AND ELSIE. AFTER THE DANISH OF CHRISTIAN WINTER. WHERE, over heathen doom-rings and gray stones of the Horg, In its little Christian city stands the church of Vordingborg, In merry mood King Volmer sat, forgetful of his power, As idle as the Goose of Gold that brooded on his tower. Out spake the King to Henrik, his young and faithful squire "Dar'st trust thy little Elsie, the maid of thy desire?" "Of
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   165   166   167   168   169   170   171   172   173   174   175   176   177   178   179   180   181   182   183   184   185   186   187   188   189  
190   191   192   193   194   195   196   197   198   199   200   201   202   203   204   205   206   207   208   209   210   211   212   213   214   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
tender
 

prayer

 

Friends

 

Christian

 

passed

 
Pastorius
 
worthier
 

nobler

 

people

 
fulness

summer

 

Western

 
purpose
 

flowers

 

answer

 
Delaware
 

Guided

 
forgets
 

Volmer

 
forgetful

stones

 

stands

 

Vordingborg

 
church
 
brooded
 

desire

 

squire

 
faithful
 
Henrik
 

winter


trumpets

 
silver
 

angels

 

CHRISTIAN

 
WINTER
 

heathen

 

DANISH

 

VOLMER

 

freedom

 
patience

farewell

 
message
 

lingered

 

guests

 

counsel

 

homeward

 

unsung

 

guileless

 

Quaker

 
grimaced