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SONGS

OF THE

NEW WOELD

J. Ai.ejxandejr-Armsi'rono

TORONTO : •

IMRIE, GRAHAM & COMPANY

31 Church Street

1896

^iiiiiiiiiiiixrTiTiijfflBiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiija

UtP

>uR

SONG-S

OF THE

NEW WOKLD

J. Ai.exandejr-Armsi'rong

TORONTO :

IMRIE, GRAHAM & CO.

31 Church Street

1896

fiiMAOiAftA

Entered according to Act of Parliament of Canada, in the year One Thousand Eight

Hundred and Ninety-six, by J. Alexander-Armstrong, in the office of

the Minister of Agriculture.

HONOR LYNNE.

A TALE OF NORTHERN MEXICa

Part I.

By Zenel's brim the li^ht is low,
More faintly flushed his waters glow

Where sinks the dusky eve.
From Boca's crests the shadows grow,
The West's red flames are ebbing slow,

Light takes a lingering leave.

Ho ! harp and tabret hither bring,
And rest and tune the magic string,

While sets yon sun afar.
Reign silence all around the ring,
We have one tragic song to sing

Before the rising star.

Let music breathe her witching spell,
So rest we till yon convent bell

Proclaims the vesper prayer ;
And ye shall list and we shall tell
The varying fortunes which befell

Our little Golden Hair.

Sing of a parted household band,
Of will all fortune to withstand

Some two score years ago ;
And nearer to the Rio Grande,
In this old, strange and warlike land.

Romantic Mexico.

A land by legend peopled o'er,
Richer than wealth of magic store

By fiction self-designed ;
"With mystic wonder-world of yore,
More wild than all the fairy lore

That charms the infant mind.

A lonely land, whose solitudes
Make music for my wayward moods,

And I will kr .»w again
Her twilight depths of ancient woods,
Her rush and roll of summer floods,

And bounding tropic main.

And ^ofty peaks adorn that clime,
Grey ledges of the ancient prime,

And valleys fair to see ;
With names too rude for measured rhyme>
Too harsh for tune — too long for time,

Too strange for memory.

And such a scene did yonder lie,

Make glad the heart and soothe the eye ;

And up where streams begin
Soared such a peak through ambient sky»
And such a vale went winding by.

Where dwelled our Honor Lynne.

"My daughter, take this flask with thee.
And at the fountain fill the same,

A rood beyond the walnut tree.

And bear it deftly back to me,
As Honor is 'thy name."

And she hath heeded what she heard,
But strangely is her spirit stirred.
While all obediently.

Still pondering on each parting word,
As to the fountain forth she fared,

Thus ^o herself said she :
■ «
I do remember when I try,
My brother Hubert said that I —

Before he went away— . .
He said for Honor, he would die,
For she had fallen from the sky

Like any summer day."

In lonely state this maid had grown,
For friend or playmate had she none

To prompt or answer how ;
Her heart was formed to ^port alone,
A year, a month, a day agone,

The bly thest she — but now '''

How changed her manner — how subdued, ;
Nor sighing wind, nor rustling wood

Can wake her fancy's play ;
'Tis truth, though darkly understood,
Thatjchange of fate brings change of mood

To children of a day.

Where wild flower nods, and trailer sweeps
By bush and bloom, her course she keeps '

With meditative mien ;
And where the sparkling water leaps, '
By yon low rock she stays her steps

And gazes round the scene.

That scene all nature doth ehdower.
All heaven aglow — all earth a bower,

Yon sky s deep sapphire hue ;
Now blooms neath summer's crowning hour,
Whose wand has touched it into flower,

One mighty bell of blue. •

O winsome world by care unworn,
O radiant day of hopes unshorn,

And thrilled with light and song
How glorious rose that summer mom,
Another heir to brightness born

'Mid days remembered long.

When broached the fount of wretchedness^
When bitter mingles with the bliss,

Such days we call to mind
That gladsome rose but sank amiss
In storm and shade ; and such was this.

The one we have defined.

Low murmurs from the brooding day,

Faint echoes borne from far away,

A wandering voice^a tramp — a neigh.

Are backward borne, and then
Far down yon way in swift array

Qo armed and mounted men.

And upland now she turns her gaze
And marks the noon's diminished blaze

Without one thought of ill,
Though one by one his ardent rays
Are lost amid the banded haze

That gathers round the hill, ^

Where deepening through each varying freak,
In long dun bars of trailing reek,

A sombre bank of cloud.
With many a vapour-shaded streak,
Has foldea round yon towering peak

His storm-presaging shroud.

And strangely hushed hath nature grown.
And as the bubbling flask of stone
Within the fount she fills,

"IT

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'^^Ct^,2,JiiJiLAi^^iillM

Faint echoing from the far unknown

The solemn thunder's cloud v groan,

Rolls o'er the distant hills.

The flask is filled, and still she stops
Between the fji'Ttain and the copse,

And fofazes round the scene,
When battering through the verdant tops
The racing dash of heavy drops

Fall few and far between.

Deep darkens all the west amain.
And yonder wakes the warning strain,

A wild and shrieking wail ;
It swells and sinks and swells again,
The courier of the hurricane

That runs before the gale.

Before the rain cloud's heavy dash.
Swift down the glen through pine and ash^

It came, that rushing moan.
Preluded by one blinding flash,
And near her, with au angry crash.

An oak was overthrown.

Between her and her home — alas.
Just in the weary straightest pass

Of all the straight ravine.
In one defaced and mangled mass
His lofty crown came to the grass

With all his honors green.

Get thee to shelter, dreaming maid ;
She fled, and met the barricaide —

The fallen oak-crown gay ;
An instant's pause must here be made
For an impromptu escalade.

But swift she wins her way. .

-,'*j^

For over banks and fallen trees,
And loftier bars than even these,

Her steps have been before.
The topmost bough she grasps with ease.
Now will she turn and deem she sees :

Her parentis at their door.

No, they have died as thousands die,
They perished with that warning cry,
'Mid nature's waste and woe.

For ere her mind take thought to fly,
While yet she kneels with startled eye

Against that topmost bough,
The torrents'from the bursting sky

All landmarks overflow ;
And giant trees are swayed on high,

And rocks ar 3^ rolled below.

The floatwood bars the torrent swift,
The f r^i^het gains, its barriers shift,

The piling waters strain
That tangled boom to rend or lift.
And loaded w^th the gathering drift,

It bends and brejEiks amain.

And sweeps away her. verdant raft.
And floods on floods are rolled abaft,

Amid the stormy race
That all but overwhelms it oft,
Yet bears the swaying crest aloft.

And drags its,cuichored base.

And blind amid the beating spray,
And on and onward and away

And farther from her home.
Through scenes of chaos and dismay,
O'er toeing floods that rock her stay,

And dash her steps with foam.

Away, away, by cove and rock.

Torn wood and crumbling hill,
With fears that hauut and hopes that mock
Through scenes that daunt, and sounds that shock.

And dreams of deadly ill .

Part II.
Far on before that watery trail
Another fate hung in the scale,

A youth had wandered there.
And riding fiercely down the vale
A troop had gone before the gale

With warrant not to spare.

For he had borne his modest might '

To aid a cause he deemed the right

And fallen in the fray.
Stunned captive,, carried from the fight,
And 'neath the shadows of the night,

Brok6 bond and slipped away. .
Now all in forms like fallen man
The dauntless dogs of Santa Anne,

Were ranging for the prey .

As down the vale he thus declined
With faltering step and troubled mind ,

He cast his glance afar,
Where only half a league behind,
And riding like the mountain wind,

Came down the narrow vale.

Came down the heavy trail.
The toiling dogs of war.

Again he gazed and sore dismayed
Beheld the storm king's ambuscade,

Beyond his mountain fence ;
All cloudy hosts are there alaid.
And rank on, rank in gloom arrayed, ,

They mingle in one awful shade ■
Of darkness lULOst intense..

And whirled above yon frowning brow
In swiftly rising might avow

Their purpo&e as they grow ;
Dread portents they proclaiming how
The wrath of storms is garnerd now

And brimmed to overflow. <

Dead walls of rock on either hand,
Behind ride storm and storming band

The onward path alone.
In deepening dread of death or bond,
He faltering traced and just beyond

A jutting curb of stone.

He bent and breathed one fervent prayer^
For shelter from the closing snare,

Above, around him spread ;
Then hooves of thunder shook his lair,
And rolling thunder and the air

Came blackening with their tread.

For soaring from yon frowning ledge.
The far-rolled storm with tattered edge

Comes flaunting all abroad.
And human might will bow like sedge.
Or tremble as a withered hedge

Before the breath of God.

And human wrath might well forbear
When that red ray with vivid glare

In broad and blinding flame.
The mysteries of the gloom laid bare,
Undammed the torrents of the air

And tenfold darkness came.

And as the beam in darkness bowed,
A peal of thunder long and loud

Shocked down through clifl* and slty.

There swept the land a drenching shroud^
And like a cloud within a cloud
The horse went drifting by.

^s scourged along by viewless arm,
As cloudwrack blown before the storm,

Besistless in career.
So veiled from view and bar'd from harm,.
Thus did each armed and mantled form

Speed on to disappear.

While hailed the shattered rock around,
But harmless all — one thought profound

Of thanks to the Most High
For danger past and favor found.
Yet while the world goes round and round.

Can danger never die.

Another warrant for the tomb.
Another shaft the archer doom

Sends with as deadly aim ;
Far-borne across the breaking gloom.
He heard the freshet's sullen boom

Give warning where it came.

Upward and down the narrow vale
He gazed and then began to scale

With faltering foot and hand,
A slippery stair with steps of shale
And brambles for his guiding rail,

To station of command.

A yawning cleft each splintered shred.
Hurled downw£ 1 to the ravine bed,

All newly traced and scar'd ;
Torn by the bolt above his head
That instant of his deathly dread.

When light with darkness war'd.

Here loftier bluffs the tempest mock/
Beneath him many a fallen block,

Amon^ the driftwood lay ;
With a sullen plunge — one mighty shock,
"White-breasted waters round the rock,

And roll them swift away.

And more, yet more, those waters win
A vaster depth^-a wilder din, j

When storming their rMreat ; •
The upland floods come roaring in
That wrecked the home of Honor liynne.

And roll them past his feet.

But he has gained this transient goal
By one swift effort pf the soul,

Till danger's frowii was o*e^;
As far beyond his calm control
As that dark torrent's rush and roll,

Then linger here no more.

He heard an eagle's distant scream.
He saw the west give forth one gleam;

And " haste," he said, "or die;"
So, half alert and half adream —
He raced beside the racing stream'

And saw thie waifs go by.

He left the torrent's stormy flow
Across that wooded cape to go,

By those wild waters bound ; '.,
In fashion like a bended bow —
A league across as wings the crow —

But twice the distance round.

Through awe-inspiring forest dells,
Where silence wed with grandeur dwells,
And years their offerings fling ;

13.

O'er tangled dips and pillar'd swells,
With dog-rose starr'd and wild blue bells
Like gallant walks of spring.

Those mighty woods — he owned their charm ^

For nature's wrath — in other form-
May nature's face renew ;

With glorious fragrance, .wet and warm.

The scattered fringes of the storm

Had drenched the forests through.

Swift onward — though his heart misgave.
Firm as the bravest of the brave

He pierced that densest wood ;
Far past the ancient Bandit's Cave,
And saw the light and heard the wave.
And reached a shelving ledge that gave

Upon the lessening flood.

Beyond were springs and rills that fed
A constant brook whose waters sped

Through scenes that well he knew,
And — by some signal tokens led —
Beneath an elm's weeping spread,

He found a light canoe.

Yon smouldering trunk the lightning rays
In his dry heart hath blown a blaze.

And there he made a meal
Of fragrant mast and roasted maize
(For there were tourists in the days

Wherewith those records deal.)

Then passed an hour, reclining low,
Or stepping lightly to and fro

As rolled its course, and then
He saw the sun when sotting slow.
And marked the radiant afterglow

That flooded all the glen.

»1

A thought of kindred claims his care,
Whose fortunes dark or fate unfair

Do deeply move his mind,
They perished there —

— But where, oh where
Is Honor of the golden hair,

The maid we left behind.

Part III.

Away, away, by cove and rock,

Torn wood and crumbling hill.
With fears that haunt and hopes that mock,
Through scenes that daunt and sounds that shock.

And dreams of dea^dly ill.

Thick dizzying as the flakes that seal

And fleck the waters hoar.
That thread their thousand handed reel,
Where sweeps the millman's tramping wheel,

Hard by his cottage door.

Here, gathering to the ambient race.
All fearful forms, as if in chase,

Dart from unf athomed deeps
To banish hope that wanes apace,
And there with wings that fan her face, '

The thirsting eagle sweeps.

And long his tireless pinions arch
In measure with the stormy march

Of that wild torrent's sway ;
And long his thirsting glances search
The shadows of her dipping perch,

Before he drifts away.

And now the untiring foe is gone,
But swift the shades of eve roll on,
And dark the forests loom ;

w,-'.^<s.i.:,^-

^MMHi

A darker night draws near anon,
Whose aftermorn shall never dawn,
Or dawn across the tomb.

All in the centre of the flow.

Far tossing rounded the bended bow.

No glimpse of sky or sun ;
But clouds above and floods below.
As far as mortal gaze can go,

Along the stormy run.

O, midst that elemental war.
Her vision will not wander i'ar,

Since all the changing rays
Of noontide, sun-pale, twilight's star.
Or night's fair moon unnoted are

By hope's receding gaze.

For now the two- fold end draws near.
Where yonder shelving banks appear.

There fate o'ersteps the line ;
Dividing danger from despair,
Though straight its onward course show fair.
The far-borne raft lies stranded there.

Locked o'er a sunken pine.

The hoarser tide with rush and scream,
That to her fading senses seem

A luU'd and distant roar
Whoops past her like a stormy dream.
And rocks her idly on the stream,

And sets her to the shore.

A stream with all its terrors doft'd,
A misty shore and hidden oft,

Though near but faintly seen ;
Yet as she meets the margin soft,
She wakes and winds her arms aloft, -

Within its belt of green.

16'

Nay, sets her very life elate —
That motion turns the tide of fate,

Forbids this page to mourn,
And bears her backward from the gate.
Where all oblivion's forces wait

To bar the soul's return.

Her anchor'd raft with measured beat.
Turns from the shore it turned to greets

And brought her there to stay,
Now, nodding to its own retreat,
It slips and dips beneath her feet

And deftly glides away.

Lo, on the torrent's distant breast,
A bar of light — with sudden zest

The sun rolls through between
A surge of flame — from crest to crests
That burning billow of the west

Comes flooding all the scene.

Far through the forest deeps it goes.
The paths are scarlet where it flows

And crimson where it stops ;
Yon distant bank deep russet glows,
And all the tin tings of the rose

Flush through the glowing tops.

That banks dun belt not only stood —
Old roots that grappled where they could
Were anchored midst the boulders rude.

And down the branches clomb
A lattice of inverted wood,
Whose tresses trembled o'er the flood

Or dipped them in the foam.

Here standing leans — and leaning stands
In pose exhausted toil demands
This waif of storm and stream.

'^■'■*'-'--

With upward gaze and grasping hands,
And crowned with gold-red streaming bands.
Reviving from her dream.

And fading sense fresh vigor gains,
And faltering life new life attains

Across a gulf of pain ;
As casting wide dull torpor's chains,
The warm blood tingles through her veins

And light to eye and brain.
And purpose forms and reason reigns

And earth looks fair again.

Now on and upward — up and on,
Bask in yon beam till lis^ht be gone

And win a wider view ;
Night's darksome hours shaH gloom anon
Like ages till the morning dawn,

And what can weakness do.

O'er living ladders — round by round —
She slowly scales that headland mound,
With summer verdure draped and bound

And hopeful to the eye.
All bathed and swathed, enwreathed and wound.
And veiled and garlanded, and crowned

By sunset's purple dye.

Far up the slant and past the wood
She makes her dainty footing good,
Till — ^just beyond the summit rude —
What stays her steps and chills her blood ?

Like lion in the way ;
'Twas there the Texan soldier stood
Between the forest and the flood,

Between the night and day.

And be it foe, or be it friend ?

And whither doth her journey tend ?

Must grief begin again ?
Her further course where shall she bend ?
Thus doubts and fears without an end

Beguile her simple brain.

But doubts and fears are far astray,
With more of wonder — less dismay.

Perplexed, but not distress'd ;
Where loitering still, she heard him say,
This youth with visage turned away.

And looking to the west.

** Yet yonder mark him drawing^ nigh.
He guides to shelter warm and dry,
Till midnight's moon be sailing high,

And then we launch our bark canoe.
And, — O for Honor let me die —
And have you fallen from the sky ?
And " " Brother Hubert," was her cry,

" And is it surely you ?"

Through twilight onward hand in hand —
Through night still on — by stream and strand.
They ply their flight so sagely plann'd
To scenes where order bears command,

And all good things await ;
Beyond the hostile mountain band.
Beyond the Cortez border land.
Beyond the rolling Rio Grande,

And near the Golden Gate.

There have they dwell'd, since there they came.
And good hath bless'd each modest aim.

And prospered their estate ;
And heart and memory are the same.
Though one be known by other name.

And school'd by other fate.

--^^'^^^^'^^^^-

liiiii

THE GODFATHER OF THE NEW WORLD.

A mimic thunderer, who high

Enthroned above his dwarfish grove,
Would flash across a playhouse sky

The burning bolts of Jove ;
Dim shades of those immortal fames

That long have pass'd from earth away,
Faint echoes of the awful names

Renowned in classic lay.

LIGHT ON THE NORTHERN LIGHTS

AN OBJECT LESSON.

All winds are laid this wintry night,

And heaven is clear though earth be white,

And dead bright sunset's lingering glow ;
Around the north an amber band
Is cross'd by many a glimmering wand,

Shot- bolts from yonder wizard bow.

A milder calm shall brood anon,
The spangles from the drift are gone,

No longer with the blast it drives ;
The frosts are fading from the pane,
And Enna sees the sky again,

And all her wondering she revives.

And climbing to the casement stands
And spreads abroad her dimpled hands,

And tells me that I ought to know ;
And cause and reason both demands
Until she deems she understands

The whys and wherefores of the show.

rr'

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' I,

And I prepare to judge with care,
And firmly bring ray mind to bear,

And mark the magnet and the scale ;
And long and deeply con the sky
Till wisdom prompts me to reply,

With judgment that can hardly fail:

" Magnetic force, electric flame.
Ethereal powers of varying name,

Combine to form our summer's glow ;
But with the waning autumn ray
The voltaic current ebbs away.

And spends the winter far below,

Where lightning's wing securely furl'd
From changes of this upward world.

Lies deep and dormant half the year,
Where subterranean lavas boil
Around the vast induction coil.

Or central magnet, of the sphere.

But when around this silent ball
Dim winter's slanting sunbeams fall,

To waste them on the desert ground
While insulating robes of snow
Divide them from their kind below,

Or bonds of crystal gird them round.

Those potent forces pent and still,
Begin to feel the unwonted thrill,

Ere nature grant them leave to fly ;
Due south and north their currents flow.
All darkly ranging to and fro,

As will'd to gain their native sky.

Till centering round the silent pole
Their lightnings leap from earth's control.
And rend those ice-bound surges free

E:>.*y.tcJd»./.

Forth from the boreal waves they spring
The centre of the frozen ring,
That belts yon < f^^'on polar sea.

Theirs be the embodied forms of power,
Cyclops and Titans of the hour.

And lords of wrack and disarray
By whose dread might are floefields torn,
An^ currents of the ocean born,

And icecliffs launched upon their way

A blazing sheaf their form appears,
Or fountain- foam of fiery spears,

Projected from the polar main
And fragments of the solar ray
Complete the circuit of their sway,

And bring them posting here again.

For broadly blows and deeply glows.
Each petal of that burning rose.

Bright ocean's crowning diadem ;
And backward round the globe they tend.
As blossoms of the lily bend

So graceful to the wiry stem.

Before the sun rolls high the tide,
Or wakes the sap in woodlands wide.

Those streamers of the northern sky
Forth from their frozen wilds unknown
Come drifting toward the solar zone

Swift as their shafts of light can fly.

When nature's grace they would restore,
Decree that frost shall reign no more.

Nor storm fiends marshal their array-
Those airy messengers they send,
To say that winter has an end.

His time goes fleeting fast away.

In silence she the scene surveyed.
As might some lonely little maid ;

The grandchild of the ancient ark —
Who turned from stormy sunset's glow
To wonder at the new-born bow

That blazed around the eastern dark.

*' Oh, have they always came and came
In such a ring-a-rosy game,"

Then added in a minor strain,
" When I was dreaming yesterday
I know I heard sweet voices say
' O winter wild will fly away,

And all the world be fair again.' "

FATE SPOILS THfi BABY'S PLAY,
. Number 1.

The snow lay heavy on the plain.

The sun was going down.
When Farmer Forbes had sold his grain

And left the market town.
The weather was not very cold.

The ice and snow were prime,
And all the young — and half the old —

Were out to spend the time.

A mile beyond the Pincombe dam,

Atd fairly on his road,
A bridge across the Sydenham

The frozen flood bestrode ;
And there they gather'd for the fun

And pitched their voices loud,
And as he touched his horses on

There darted from the crowd

Two merry maids with dog and sled

And they were mad with glee,
The one that drove, the one that led,

And both collectively.
One sister rode upon her sled,

The other, with a thong
Bound to his belted harness, led

Her panting dog along.

She gain'd the sleigh — it gain'd the bridge —

Her sled was at the back.
Where doggie trots along the ridge

That parts the double track ;
And so she rode — till glancing down

Along the onward way,
Lo, heading swiftly tor the town

There loom'd another sleigh.

Then down she sprang. " Go back ! go back t

There is no room to spare ;
The passing sleighs will fill the track

And jam our doggie there ! "
To drag him from the ridge alone

Was now her one design.
But he had notions of his own

And would not clear the line.

But faced his guide — as strongly will'd —

And pulled against the grain ;
And Polly pulled, and Ponto pulled.

And both with might and main.

And pulled the harness o'er his head,

Then unsubdued and free —
He shook his ears, and off he sped

For home and liberty.
Aye, swifter than the wind he fled,

And left the maids behind
To bring the harness and the sled ;

A lesson here we find.

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And this is true, we saw it all,

And this is why we say
That care will come — without a call-

And spoil the baby's play.

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PUZZLE.

To nothing closed in fifty-five

The fifth of letters add ;
Twill make the thing that kill'd a king-

And drove a wise man mad.

MIGHTY IS SONG.

O mighty is Song when a light is breaking,
Destined to illumine the wide earth o'er ;
mighty is Song when the world is waking
With a thought never known before.

Shine on ! shine on ! dark shadows are shaking.
They're drifting away as the light draws near ;

lis own way taking — its own way making,
Growing clearer and yet more clear.

Shine on ! shine on !

O mighty is Song ; and song is ringing

From the earth to the sky with a new found voice
That bids the barren break forth into singing,

And the ends of the earth rejoice.
Ring on ! ring on ! as a fountain flinging

Pearl dew on a rose below,
And the fond cup bringing with a fond upspringing

To the wealth of the fountain flow.

Bing on ! Ring on !

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O mighty is Song, when the harp comes hither

(Though the pipe should fail let the harp succeed)
No cause for to fear that the rose shall wither,

Will wither and leave not a seed.
Bloom on ! bloom on ! though the dark cloudsigather

Deepest gloom over mountain and shore,
Though the wild rock-heather and the wild hawk-
feather,

Know a voice in the land no more.

Bloom on ! Bloom on!

O mighty is Song, and Tinie, her waiter,

Brings joy with a silent tread ;
For the mighty hopes that once were traitor

Are true when the years are fled,
^ong-lover is Time — he dare not hate her —

Her hope shall he yet fulfil,
l^or one is greater — his one Creator,

And we wait for the word and the will.

Roll on ! Roll on !

THROUGH MANY WAYS.

O well ! well-away ! how the years fly away !

Shall a voice from the past ever guide me,
To find out a way through the dark and day.

For myself and the angel beside me ;
To find out the way where a fool cannot stray.

The way for myself and my Ida;
To find out the way where my true fortunes lay.

The way where they yet may abide me ?

Thy thoughts are too gay, for myself I will say,
The monster to whom they confide thee,

Por God I will say, and the words you may weigh,
That the mask of thy heart cannot hide thee ;

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Ye hid them away for thy gods made of clay,
My Rachel for which thou wilt pride thee ;

I found out the way — and the will too — but stay,
I find not the heart for to chide thee.

But not soalway — for it chanced on a day —

When another was seated beside thee
I found out the way for to send him away,

I found out a way to divide thee ;
I found out a way for to bear thee away

From the ills that were like to betide thee,
I found out the way for to make thee obey,

I found out the way for to guide thee.

When they yell'd for their prey with a chase,
Harkaway,

A danger itself can decide me ;
I found out the way for to bring them to bay,

The dogs that would dare to deride thee !
They fled from the prey in a base gone away,

The baseness that would have aV.ied thee ;
Ye met me that day in the hearts give away,

And bade all their world to avoid thee.

CHRISTMAS, 189—.

The season comes of frost and snow

Of friends and Christmas cheer
That goes as fast as time can go

And comes but once a year ;
Mi<i when it goes — with loss or gain-

VVe thi)ik we ought to sigh
Because it never comes a&rain

And that's the reason why.

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bey.

ith a chase,

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away,
ihee ;
Lway,
e.

Yet scenes like these we hope to see

The course of time restore ;
Since other years have yet to be

As years have been before.
So all the time in happy mood

We bid each year good-bye,
We hope the next will be as good.

And that's the reason why.

O lovely maid, whom I adore,
Say, must we part to meet no more ?

Did sovereign fate decree
That thou shouldst find a changeless home
While I a lonely exile roam,

Afar from love and thee ?

Though far from home and friends I rove.
The memory of the maid I love

Shall dwell within my breast.
Shall still remain the guiding star
That greets the wanderer's gaze afar

From scenes in youth it blest.

Yet far too faint thy distant light
To chase the shadows of the night,

That gathers o'er my mind ;
Not gladsome as in seasons past.
Those days — too happy for to last —

Dear girl, I leave behind.

Thy presence then, my darling one,
Was grateful as when wakes the sun

The long night-watch too cheer.
From thy warm smile I never roved,
But long a faithful planet moved

In thy refulgent sphere.

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While to my heart thy radiance came,
And kindled there congenial flame ;

Now absent must I be,
While captive to thy loved control ;
Shall darker orbs around thee roll

And borrow light from thee ?

Yet fare thee well ; my fondest prayer,
And friendliest wishes shalt thou share ;

May fortune wait on thee ;
May cloudless skies around thee spread,
On roses may thy footsteps tread

And joy thy portion be.

But should st thou suffer, shouldst thou grieve.
How swift to rescue or relieve.

How eager would I fly ;
Should dark affliction ever fling
One feather from her sable wing

To dim thy cloudless sky.

Yet stay, oh stay, why should we part ;
Already one in mind and heart,
Why not in word and deed ?
> roam with me my constant mate,
) ^take my fortunes or my fate
Wherever it may lead.

O say not that my suit is vain,
Nor to despii^ir devote thy swain ;

That heart he bids thee share
He numbers not with baser minds,
Whom custom, vice, or error blinds

To all that's true and fair.

"To lands that bear the orange and vine.
Where cloudless suns and seasons shine
Wilt thou, my dearest, go ?

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Thou wilt, a queen my love shall reign,
The sovereign of a starry train ;
Farewell to gloom and woe.

While in a firmament of light
A double star our rays unite

To cheer some happy home.
Whilst thou for love and I for fame
Together trace our blended name
In letters of undying flame

On glory's lofty dome.

Lovely one, those crimson blushes
Lend a brightness to that tear,

Like the sparkling tide that gushes
In a fountain cool and clear,
'Neath the foliage stain'd and sere.
Where the vineyard's fruits appear,
Portents of a goodly cheer,

When the bashful vintage blushes
For the favors of the year.

Sure some nameless charm flung o'er thee
Finds thee favor in my sight ;

Never harvest hale and hoary
Gave the reaper more delight.
Nor the stars that twinkle bright,
As they send their silent light
Through the shadows of the night.

Shone with such a potent glory,
Universal in its might.

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While thy voice to mine replying,

Though the sense I barely seize,
Never swan alive or dying

Rivall'd this, thy power to please,

Nor the sighing of the beeeze

As it rustles through the trees

When the tyrant winter flees
And the realm of spring is vocal,

With the song of birds and bees.

On thy constant love depending,
Grateful as the fresh'ning shower

When our barren skies unbending
Low their welcome shadows lower.
Fairer than the fairest flower,
Never breath of woodland bower —
Pledge of spring's progressive power,

Breathed such sweetness, though attending
On her most delightsome hour.

Nothing false nor undecided
Shall my steadfast heart allure ;

No sophism many-sided

May thy stainless mind immure,
Ever constant and secure
As the paths of light are pure,
And the patriot's triumph sure,

Ever free, yet undivided
May our mutual love endure.

THE PATH OF THE LIGHTNING.

Oh say, what earthly destiny
May mar the fame achieved by me.
Whose crowning triumph yet may be
Departed worth's revival ;

E'en mind all potent in degree
That sent me through the stormy sea,
That fame can never rival.

A captive ray of scathing flame
Destined to serve another aim

Beyond my best deserving ;
To hail a distant land of fame,
And thence r<^-turn the way I came,

And keep my course unswerving.

And what a narrow course was mine,
"Which yet united with one twine

The true and ample hearted,
And bound two nations in one line,
'Twas ocean's envious design

Forever to have parted.

On errand of importance bound
Ivanished, 'mid the depth profound

Of ocean's saline water :
Behind me lay that land Newfound,
Where finny myriads shoal around

Unthinned by constant slaughter.

How swift did I my course pursue
Far down beneath those waters blue,

Illumed with beams Elysian ;
As 'mid their dazzling depths I flew
What wonders flashed upon my view
Conceal'd from mortal vision.

Here sighing shells impurpled shine,
The mermaid's goblet stained with wine.

The lute of ocean's charmer ;
And there a frigate of the line,
All worn and blackened by the brine,

Was coffined in her armour.

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And yonder pearls more rich and fair
Than ever (wreathed in Beauty's hair)
Have glimmered to the midnight air,

Or mocked the skies of morning,
Which queens have vainly wish'd to wear^
AnA bards confessed beyond compare,

Unsightly crags adorning.

And now of dungeons, dark and cold.
As miser's avaricious hold,

I pass'd the gloomy portals.
Where floating mines of wealth untold
Had bribed the waves with gems and gold

To spare the lives of mortals.

Which yet had folded with the dead

The hands which all these trophies spread »

Mayhap they deemed it fairer;
As wolves, more fierce by carnage fed,
First snatch the offering of man's dread

Then slay the tribute-bearer.

Here mark'd I many a massy bar,
Yea ! all the toys that vaunted are.
That man can make or ocean mar,

Her darkest deeps bestrewing,
While wafted from their homes afar
The waifs of elemental war

Commingled with the ruin.

The captain and his gallant crew.
The warrior with the foe he slew.

The votary of pleasure ;
The thoughtless throng — the wiser few.
The spendthrift and the miser too

Entombed with all his treasure.

Pride, stand reproved ; these mains allow
No throne for thee — though even now

Thy lonely shade may linger
O'er Beauty's cheek or manhood's brow,
EfFacer' by neither passion's plough

Nor time's corroding finger.

'Mid spoils that cumber'd ocean's floor,
In endless range from shore to shore,

Through long, long ages hoarded ;
All these I mark'd and many more,
As ever waves or woman bore.

Or angel pen recorded.

While *mong such spoils with gambols rain
The mighty monsters of the main

Disported in their freedom ;
Sea serpents shook the shaggy mane,
Or coil'd the undulating train

In some submarine Eden.

Or Kraken huge as island bank,
Whose arms enormous rank on rank.
Diverged, encircled, rose or sank,

With slow but deadly motion ;
W'hile Leviathan's cumbrous length
Displayed such vast unwieldy strength.

As waked a slumbering ocean.

Long ages must the shafts of death
Forbear such revelers briny bath.

While man himself is dying ;
Their pride disdains the lightning's wratb>
Too wary far to cross my path,

My distant power defying;

How calm the waters sleep below.
Where billows neither come nor go.
Their stubborn pride restraining ;

1 1

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■ I !

III'

Nor wake, thouf^h wildest tempests blow,
"Nor gather to fair Luna's glow,

Nor ebb they with her waning.

Farewell, those depths — yet e'er I found
The goal for which my course was bound.

With what diverse emotion.
With what dismay I gazed around,
Amazed with every sight and sound

Of nature in commotion.

The winds sent up a warning cry,

As clarion-like, shrill, hoarse and high.

Their herald voice ascended,
And summoned ocean to defy
The anger of that stormy sky;

Wherewith his waves were Mended.

Untempted by the sparkling ore,
Unharmed amid the rush and roar

Of waves that proudly vaunted,
I gained the shelter of a shore
Which exile oft has sought before.
Thence but to tempt the main once more.

By all its rage undaunted.

Such course is mine from day to day.
Retrace that course I must or may
Which ere thou term it — toil or play,

Tho' fleeter far and stronger
Subjected to their lordly sway,
(The signal. Hark ! — away, away).
My master's mandate I obey,

And dare delay no longer.

881

NORTH AMERICAN THUNDERSTORM.

All nature smiled when morning's prime

Glanced o'er the forest fair,
That glory of our western clime

No other land may share.
The sun high risen from ocean's foam

And o'er the mountains high,
Still higher mounts the vaulted dome,

And gains meridan sky.

One half his long triumphant march

Has hailed the king of day,
Now slowly down the bending arch

He holds his stately way ;
But in the line that bounds his view

A cloudy wreath there lies,
Part glooms in deepest darkest hue,

Part glows with brighter dyes.

From ocean's brim in the far west

With banner dark unfurled,
The storm- king rears his sable crest

And frowns upon the world ;
Now rising from yon gloomy bank,

Before his band he strides,
As higher mounting — rank on rank.

His marshal'd host he guides.

With burnished shield whose sombre gloom

Has caught a brighter glow,
With trappings dashed with purple bloom,

And banners tipped with snow ;
He rests not in his onward path

To greet the royal Sol,
But with a flush of deepening wrath

Enshrouds him in his pall.

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In endless lines his columns roll,

■ Hushed has all nature grown,

All Heaven's wide arch from pole to pole

Lowers in one sable zone.
The forests wave like bending grain,

And mimic ocean's roar.
That sweeps a thousand leagues the main

To shake some caverned shore.

Furious the whirlwind rushes past

As mounted vaudal throng,
The cedar bows before the blast.

And lays him all along ;
And like a giant fierce and strong

Beheld with awe and dread,
The red bolt-bearer strides along —

Earth reels beneath his tread.

The lordly oak his power defies,

And fans the stormy tide,
The vengeful fiery current flies

And smites his crown of pride ;
The scenes that late did brightly bloom

Now ruins dark deform,
Thus Error's course begins in gloom.

And ends in wasting storm.

But lo, a streak of davrning light

ixlong the west appears,
And broader grows, and glows more bright..

And onward still it bears ;
Where now the storm-king's furious boast,

Or pride aspiring high,
The shattered remnants of whose host

Sweep down the eastern sky ?

The sun again from^darkness free,

Pursues his placid way
And smiles abroad o'er land and sea

In calm benignity ;

Thus Truth at last — tho' Error's blow
May long obscure her ray —

Beams forth ajrain with brififhter glow
When clouds are swept away.

FATE SPOILS THE BABY'S PLAY, NO. 2.

The story is not much to tell

Yet you shall hear anon,
Of what to Baby Ralph befell

But three short days agone ;
It chanced when he was taking stock,

Quite in the first degree,
For he can walk and he can talk

As yet imperfectly.

Two summers he this baby fair,

And Bessie's years are three,
And Bessie rode the rocking chair

And baby came to see
The stately car that sis would ride.

And soon he got to know
That he when standing close behind

Could make the motive go.

Her attitude was painter's charm,

A pose of childish grace,
With tangled locks across her arm

And arm across her face ;
'Tis twilight hour, she swaying there

In dreaming reverie,
And baby stands and swings the chair

And laughs in happy glee.

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Till — awful change — in tragic scream,

Dissolves his laughter gay,
And starts the household from its dream

And thrills it with dismay ;
And cause had he may here be said

For shrieks of wildest woe.
When underneath the" rocker tread

He slipped his tender toe.

That tread as heavy as a hill.

As heartless as a clown,
That like a Bank or cotton mill

Was always closing down ;
Sure sorrow seems an endless tale

And happiness as brief,
Short was his laugh — but long the wail

Before they soothed his grief.

And this is true, we saw it all ;

Good reason why we say.
That care will come — without a call —

And spoil the baby's play.

YOUTH RENEWED.

Hail ! happy childhood's hopes and fears.
Each backward glance thy date endears

Still more and more to me ;
Thou transient scene of smiles and tears.
Fair April of my added years

So dear to memory.

where is that enchanted beam
That gilds existence's dawning gleam
To some, perchance to all ;

Faint as a halt'-forgotten dream
Those long-flown yearc to memory seem
That now I would recall.

might — as Zion's King foretold —

That power which marks my mind grown old

Renew its youth again ;
Since far less vivid, vexed and cold
My tide of time which since hath roU'd

To the eternal main.

Years given that nothing can restore,
Like generations gone before,

Or present, or to come ;
Not few to grief, to folly more,
None to approve — all to deplore,

And number'd is their sum .

How oft the noblest minds that move.
Will barter gifts that well might prove

An angel's attributes ;
Thenceforth in talent, taste or love,
Or sink beneath, scarce rise above
The level of the brutes.

1 speak not now of passions gross,
That mantle with the darkest dross

The metal of the mind, . •

Which yet may wear the outward gloss
Of some dark tree with gilded moss

That hides the tarnish'd rind.

Nor is it passions fierce I mean,
That blind us with deceitful sheen,

Till reason takes the wing ;
Not theirs the blame — for well I ween
Affections vengeful or obscene

Their own correction bring.

Wirr^ '

It is that hidden, treacherous crew,
To all, except a noble few ;

The shoals v;bereon we strike,
That gild their bav.e o* every hue,
And every hour the strife renew.

Assailing all alike.

Man's Eden lost — still leagued with hell,
Still tempted by the serpent, fell.

He ever turns aside ;
Heedless we launch our found'ring shell,
And bound, as with a wizard's spell,

Drift downward with the tide.

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Beguiled and soothed by specious wrong,
And wiled by Fancy's syren song.

Still farther from the shore.
We mingle with the thoughtless throng
Who tempt that torrent dark and strong

That rolls forever more.

Till 'reft of friends, joy sought in vain,
Evanish'd or become our bane.

Our hopes all overhurled ;
Past folly goads us till we gain
One glimpse of that tremendous main

That wrecks a ruined world.

All sad, dejected, and forlorn,
With pain too bitter to be borne,

And dread of deeper woe ;
Tho* helpless in the toils we mourn.
From hope to hope we fondly turn.

Yet seek our aid below.

'Mid breakers lost, tho' vain man's skill,
The breath of heaven our sails may fill ;
A voice breaks on our dream,

Not trumpet-toned, but low and still,
Awake, arise, exert thy will,

And strive against the stream.

Oh, if we heed that voice divine,
Our spirits shall this fire refine

From dross and base alloy,
And worthy of their grand design
Be raised in power to reign and shine,

And crowned with lasting joy.

From all their past offences shriven,
With grace to purge the inbred leaven,

And deathless fair renown ;
The heirs of wrath are heirs of Heaven,
To him who overcomes is given

A never fading crown.

As rising o'er the brow of night
The morning star beams on our sight,

Thus may our course be won ;
Tho' clouds soon dim its radiance bright.
Not quenched its beam before their flight.
But merged in that transcendent light

That robes the rising sun.

And long as endless ages flow

That sun shall shine — no shade of woe,

No danger can we fear;
Nor doubt, nor darkness can we know
While his glad beams forever glow

In their eternal sphere.

With patience may we run our race,
And when we reach that promised place

So steadfast and secure,
The blessings of eternal grace
Supreme o'er error's latent trace,

Forever shall endure.

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Not pride elate — nor carnal self.
No false desire, nor sordid pelf

Shall wield a base control,
But endless youth, unfailinj? health,
And perfect love and boundless wealth

Shall jatv/ J the soul.

OUR PATHS HAVE MET.

One sovereign will have overawed
All counter powers of force or fraud,

Beneath bright heaven's dome ;
He speaks and heedful to his nod
The audience of the stars applaud,

Our life one perfect poem.

They came to us from far abroad,
O'er desert sand and fertile sod.

And cross'd the ocean's foam,
An hundred thousand leagues they trod,
1 hose swift unerring fates of God,

Before they found our home.

CRUSOE IN EXILE.

O solitude, how strange and drear.
The past may ne'er return.

The tide of fate has borne me here
And left me here to mourn.

It was the sixteenth day of May,

The fifth month of the year,
My messmates did the anchor weigh

And gave their parting cheer ;
The helmsman stood beside his post,

The wind was fresh and strong,
A slaver toward the Guinea coast

Was bearing us along.

•

A storm sprang up and roused the tide^

In vain we shortened sail,
Still rose the blast, till veering wide

We ran before the gale ;
But wilder still the tempest grew,

Down came the sweeping rain,
Loud thunder roll'd, red lightning flew,

Dark heaved the restless main.

And on and on through storm and gloom

For many a league went we ;
Each moment nearer seemed our doom,

And fiercer raged the sea ;
Till sudden rang a trumpet peal,

With thrilling cry of " Land !"
But e'er 'twas heard our good ship's keel

Was buried in the sand.

And o'er us broke the stormy sea ;

Each surge of ocean's war
Swept hold and deck — spill'd o'er our lee

And strained each cord and spar.
Again resounds that trumpet note ;

"Our boat !" was now the cry.
Our one lone hope — our only boat.

Cast off — to live or die.

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Ahead with stern and heavy stroke,

A war of flood and sand,
Wave following wave, successive broke

Along the level strand ;
The seas against the breaking surf,

For which we madly steer.
Like rival racers of the turf

Urged on their wild career.

Astern, a wave, crown'd high with foam.

Came charging o'er the main ;
Each way, as far as eye could roam,

One long unbroken chain ;
High as the prow of loftiest bark.

That ever spread a sail,
That mighty wall of water dark

Was borne before the gale.

The tempest, towards this barren shore,

Sent on the dashing brine ;
All lesser waves went down before

That crested endless line.
On, on, the giant billow swung

Beneath a cloud of spray.
His chilling arms around us flung

And gathered in his prey.

From boat and comrades sunder 'd wide,

My mates I saw no more,
Borne far beneath the rolling tide

And onward to the shore ;
And like an arrow, swift I sped

Along the shelving strand,
Borne o'er the ocean's rocky bed

And dashed upon the land.

A darker doom my comrades found.
Their fate — their tombs unknown ;

With half-a-score the boat went down ;
I reached the land alone.

V
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Farewell, my native land and sky,
Farewell my comrades too ;

I bid you, one and all, good-bye,
A long and last adieu.

1*'

ON THE ST. LAWEENCE— No. 1.

FROM UNPUBLISHED POEM — "EMIGRANT."

With what mingled emotions of hope and of fear
Did I enter the bourne of the strange hemisphere ;
But they faded with the warrant both of pleasure

and of pride,
As the ocean's troubled torrent blended with a

purer tide.

Still receding, till I lose them, when the ark of
our abode

On the broad unruffled bosom of the lordly Law-
rence rode ;

Fondly would my memory linger 'mid that stream's
enchanted maze.

O'er each trace of Nature's finger there presented to
the gaze.

♦

Strong repugnance rising stronger to the end I have

in view.
But we will delay no longer than to mention one

or two,
Which their praise as sacred duty from the merest

churl might claim,
One a scene of passing beauty — one of unsurpassed

fame.

. «: ;

•One the eye delighted follows in its undulating line,
•O'er Cape Rosiers heights and hollows, clothed with

verdure — crowned with pine.
How those mounds, those woods, those meadows

lend enchantment to the scene,
As their shifting lights and shadows alternately

intervene.

While betwixt the cornfield sober and the pine's
oppressive green,

Did the sunshine of October spread a dim delight-
some sheen.

And I earnestly remember that the thought beguiled
me then,

^Tis my future — my November that is rising to ray ken.

But the mist settled deeper and darker it grew
Till that lovliest vision evaded my view,
Save the clear sky above and the tall pines beneath
With their dark foliage rising in wreath over
wreath.

ON THE ST. LAWRENCE— No. 2.

With speed that no mischance delays

We stemmed that stream's majestic tide,
Till rose before my raptured, gaze

The field of fame and pride ;
Which fancy for my wayward mood

Had oft in brightest hues designed,
Tho' colored with a kinsman's blood

When offered to my mind.

The field that saw the vanquish'd weep.

The victor shroud his palm,
When Valor scaled her frowning steep,

Famed " Heights of Abraham ;"

mmm

':«.^^9'

..iiSa^ai.

Jng line,
Bd with

»eadows
rnately

pine's

eli^ht-

>guiled

y ken.
Tew

ath
5ver

While higher rose that tower-crowned crag —

Point Diamond's brow of care,
And higher still the red cross-flag

Was floating on the air.

Which banner borne in Glory's van,

And yonder flaunting fair ;
Recall'd the memory of the man

Whose valor placed it there ;
Who, heir to fortune's princely dower,

A world encircling name
Could envy in his dying hour

A bard's undying fame.

And he his brother leader brave

Who fell beneath her frown,
Yet shared the honors of his grave.

His rival in renown ;
Combining dignity and dash,

Montcalm^ that patroit true,
When Wolfe^s thin lines one blasting flash

Against his forces flew.

A hundred hearts, young, brave and gay

Confess'd its fatal power,
A hundred lives were borne away

Amid that deadly shower.
Farewell, brave hearts, may never strife

Again disturb your land
Till peace shall forge a pruning knife,

From war's impurpled brand.

ODE TO PETROLEUM.

Petroleum rises in the west.
And sheds his glory to the east.
All nations with his beams are blest ;
Where'er his radiant light appears

kMl

He burns and beams with steady ray,
O'er lands that long in darkness lay,
He springs from our fair Canada,

And sheds the radiance of the stars.

Fair fortune his attendant stands
To bless and to enrich our lands,
Or crown the labor of our hands.

Which nothing will so well repay ;
Coal gas, or dip, or rancid train
May urge their varied claims in vain,
All gloomy rushlights we disdain,

And shout " Long live Petrolia."

PEACH AND ROSE.

Choice blessings lie within our reach.

Within the reach of thought and toil,
We win them like the fragrant peach

That wins a nectar from the soil ;
Begun 'neath winter's solemn power —

Brought forth by springtime free and fair,.
Enriched through summer's shine and shower-

And mellow'd in the autumn air ;
A gift to cheer the god's divine

When oftered at their holy shriue.

Tho' countless blessings have been lost

Loss has been lost in iinal gain,
Tho' every darling hope be cross'd,

Unconquer'd hope shall bloom again;
Shall bloom, shall bound, from heart to hearty

Break forth and blossom as the rose,
Swift as the lightning's vivid dart

The time encountering clouds oppose.
The hope of hopes for aye renewed,

Eternal, changeless, unsubdued.

•»'• I. . J jfvaW*!^.

Duet— AROUSE THEE WITH THE DAWNING.

TENOR.

Day dawns once more, thou dear one,

Now wakes the bird and bee.
Then rise, my love, my fair one,

And wander forth with me ;
The golden gleam of morning

Shines far o'er lake and lea,
n rouse thee with the dawning

^nd wander forth with me.

ALTO.

O yes, when morning smiling

Awakes the tuneful throng,
Care's cankered breast beguiling

With innocence and song ;
While blithesome birds are conning

Their matin melody,
I'll rouse me with the dawning,

And wander forth with thee.

TENOR.

All nature's heart rejoices.

Let love-lorn hearts admire
The forest's thousand voices,

The grove's melodious choir.
Not flatterers fulsome fawning.

But love's behest to thee,
Then rouse thee with the dawning^

And wander forth with me.

ALTO.

When orchards sheeted over.

Display their dftzzling bloom.
Or breath frcrna ^eom "or clover

Gomes freighted'With pt rf ume ;

•■'■il

I' \i

What time yon misty awning
Enshrouds the purple sea

I'll rouse me with the dawning
And wander forth with thee.

FROM CLOUD TO SEA.

Oh rills that rush from the crest of a mountain,
Bursting to light from many a fountain
Leaping along with musical warble
Over the ledges of granite or marble,
Whither away are ye flying ; whither away are ye
hieing ? .,

Whither go ye ? .
On for to join the mighty river,
To follow his endless course forever,

Wherever that course may be..
We glide away like a happy dream
And gladden the vale with a life-giving stream,
And tho' half of our number disappear
In a single league or a single year

Yet a gladsome course have we;
For a river is like the life of man
And its mountain course is childhood's span.

Brooks of the vale; but wherefore sally
Forth from your fastness into the valley, .
Chaos of waters, fuming and toiling, r:

Fretting and tossing, booming and bbiling, -
Whither away are ye hast'ning ; whither away are
ye posting? - ^

Whither go ye? ■

On for to join a broader torrent; . ; -7

On for to speed with a swifter current i? ; . . .^

Onward untamed and free, , j ;., .

•e ye

Outshining the skies of the morning fair,
Outstripping the speed of the morning air,
Till a dark rock rears a frowning wall
And the foaming water goes over the fall

With a fierce and a frantic glee,
For a river is like to a mortal's life
And we symbol its youth of impatience and strife.

And y6, river, with grandeur girded.
With majesty crowned — with fame rewarded.
What motive, what power forever is drawing
Thy mighty expanse, intrepid and aweing ?
Whither away are ye wending ? whither away are
ye tending ?

Whither go ye ?.
On with a calm resistless niotion,
On to the deeps of the boundless ocean,

Down to the silent sea ;
Enriched with the treasures swept down from afar,
Unheeding the burdens of commerce or war ;
One purpose forev^r-^fulfiUing my way
Through the passing hours of the golden day,

A monitor formed for thee
From the brooks and the rills and the mountain rain.
To the silent cea — I shall rise again.

ire

ADA'S JETSAM.

The sky and ocean blending

To gain their lost embargo.
While rival-like contending

Engulf 'd the stately Argo;

Lost Argo was she,
. 'Down went that fated Argo

With all her costly cargo
All hopelessly descending.

To the bottom pf the sea.

But who presumes to measure

The power of one survivor
Of woman's pride and pleasure,

The resolute retriever,

Reviver was he,

The skill of such survivor,

And daring of the diver
Has snatched my darling's treasure

From the all-devouring sea.

This proof of proud devotion,
This prize which honest care made.

He gather'd from the ocean
To deck his vassal's fair maid ;
A fair maid to me ;
To deck my own, my fair maid,
The lovely little mermaid

I hail with new emotion
In her vesture of the sea.

As new emotion tender,

The minstrel's morning rosy,

No more the bard's offender
Shall term his future prosy,
dice prosy to me.
My future tame and prosy.
This dawning beam of poesy

Illumes with glowing splendor
New risen from the sea.

My friend, Browne, who is posted in ornithology,,
tells me that he has found out now birds of the eagle
and condor tribes are able to soar and sail without
beating their wings. He claims that nobody has ever

■ttriMW"

stated the true explaDation of the mystery, and that
he discovered it by accident He says the birds have
kept the secret for six thousand years. He says he
will publish the facts in one of the Toronto papers on
the first Canadian holiday that comes around. Ho
says this is because the eagle is the American emblem,
and if a Canadian makes the discovery, Canada can
claim the eagle as well as the " Kolapore Cup."

Question ; — Is there any method in his madness ?

:ie

ut
er

A SEAMAN'S EULOGY.

Oone ! gone ! gone ! from the knowledge of the living ;
'Twas a gallant ship, I ween,
As the world had ever seen ;
And she floated on the sea
Like an eagle wild and free,
When beheld careering proud
O'er the mountain-crowning cloud
Where the blue abyss of heaven looms in lone im-
mensity.

Lost ! lost ! lost ! 'mid the carnage of a tempest,
When the ocean and the air
Fierce as leopards from their lair,
Blent the shrieking of the gale,
And the hissing of the hail ;
With the surge's awful roar
As they tumbled on the shore.
Where they left but one survivor for to tell the fear-
ful tale.

'^il

■■ ^^^■^■<4miimMet>mmflliii^

Down ! down ! down ! to the bottom o^ the ocean —
Long she wrestled with the storm
E'er it won her stately form,
Or the billows made a prize
Of her goodly merchandise ;
But her measured course was run
And bur duty duly done,
Heroes share the fate of mortals but their memory
never dies.

ON PRIDE.

VARIED FROM A TRANSLATION OF THE SPANISH " FOOT -

STEPS OF DECAY.

The world is old — the world is wide.
Yet neither time nor place for pride

It ever can bestow,
For Life is short and Death is sure
And joy can never be secure

While wishes wider grow.

Yet save man's first and latest place,
Those outposts of the human race,

The cradle and +he grave ;
Both sad and mirthful 'tis to see
Pride fill each station, each degree
From potentate to slave.

Unmindful of their low estate.
Oblivious to their transient fate,

Some Babel-builders vain
With vaulting vanity aspire
To stretch their line from sire to sire,

But like a golden chain

-:mm^z

Or lofty ladder which they climb
To mighty names of ancient time,

Or cord of silken twine ;
One broken strand — one missing rounds
A single link that proves unsound

May mar their boasted line.

All ranks are hurried to one goal,
As Time and Fate repeat the roll

Of unforgotten names ;
Alike the servant and his lord.
Resign the sickle and the sword

When Death their homage claims.

Where are those names of high imprise.
Which once did seem to mortal eyes

The all-important few ?
Their pomp and power have taken wing,.
Their very tombs are mouldering

'Neath Time's corroding dew.

So must all mortal pomp decay,
All earthly garlands fade away

From frail humanity ;
Then b6 thy glory arid thy pride
Taught by an everlasting Guide

Who was and is to be.

TO ANNA IN HEAVEN.

And art thou gone indeed,
And must my spirit mourn ;

Must thine from earth recede
And nevermore return ?

Loved one, oh, why depart,
Why leave me here alone ?

Thou darling of my heart.

Ah ! whither hast thou flown ?

Though borne from life and fame

Through death's repulsive vale,
And men forget thy name,

Shall I thy fate bewail ?
Since bond-dissolving death

Hath set thy spirit free.
Ere wrong's impoison'd breath

Had ever breathed on thee.

Ah, no, the thought forbid

That star which faded here —
From mortal vision hid—

Shines in another sphere ;
Porever with the blest

Its radiance shall endure
Where an eternal rest

And triumph are secure.

THE ONE MERIT HUMAN.

'Mid mortals benighted

What bosoms are torn,
What destinies blighted ;

And life's early morn
Though fair and unclouded

With nought to deform,
How soon 'tis enshrouded

In darkness and storm.

*" A world of transgression
Our earth we may call,"
Is the sage's confession.
And warning to all.

^.-.^^MJtUm

To forgive is the merit
That mortals should claim

Who desire to inherit
Unperishing fame.

ODE TO GOLD.

All hail to thee, gold !

Though to hearts that are cold,
Both a grief and a danger are thou,

The snare of the devil

And the root of all evil :
A dumb idol to which they all bow.

Yetliail to thee, gold !

To the minds of true mould
A defence and a treasure thou art ;

They would spend thee forever

In the cause of the Giver,
If the hand were as rich as the heart.

All hail to thee, gold !

Though to souls for thee sold,
Still a curse and a torture art thou;

Tho' 'mid thee they languish

In darkness and anguish,
That finds them they know not well how.

Yet hail to thee, gold !

To the true and the bold
"Who have chosen a far better part,

Why should they misdoubt thee,

Since with or without thee
Greater treasures have sway o'er the heart ?

ST. GEORGE'S BANNER BOLD.

WRITTEN SHORTLY AFTER THE FENIAN INVASIOK

OF 1866.

Hark ! what rumour, dire and fearful,

Swiftly borne o'er land and wave,
Speaks in accents, strange and tearful.

Words of warning to the brave ;
'Tis our country's call of danger,

Claiming aid of each true son ;
Sound the trumpet ! — raise the standard L

Gird the patriot's armour on.

Bear aloft the flag once honored

By our sires in days of old ;
Rally round the Royal Lion,

And St. George's banner bold ;
While we sound a dauntless challenge

To our base and bloody foe, —
" Here we plant the flag of freedom

And no further shalt thou go !"

Lo, the alien and the stranger —

With his crimson flag displayed —
Ruthless as the desert ranger,

Would our sacred soil invade ;
Shall our glorious land lie bleeding ?

Rouse, ye heroes of the north !
Join in battle ! — strike for freedom !

Drive the foe with fury forth.

Raise the Shamrock, Rose, and Thistle,

And the crown of ruddy gold.
Rally round the Maple standard.

And St. George's banner bold ;
While we sound a stern defiance

To our base and bloody foe.
There we plant the flag of freedom -

And no further shalt thou go.

'Ti

(

^^mK:^;^mmi,

Dark the cloud of danger low'ring

O'er our peaceful happy land.
Treason's giant spectre tow'ring,

Sword and torch in either hand ;
Smite the foe his vengeance working,

Scorn the friend that aids that foe —
Malice in the shadow lurking

Swift to deal the dastard blow.

Raise the flag that nations honor

Borne through scenes of strife untold,
Rally round our chosen symbol

And St. George's banner bold ;
While we breathe a firm defiance

To our base and bloody foe,
Here we plant our flag of freedom

And no further shalt thou go.

FOR DOMINION DAY. ^

'Tis midsummer morning the sun's up in glory,
Whose beam never sets on the realm of Victoria ;
fioth nature and mankind their slumber have taken,.
The bugles are blown and the banners are shaken,
To honor the season ; — Canadians, awaken,
While nature's own diamonds are brightly adorning:
The cold dewy brow of the midsummer morning,
The day when the last of the nations was born,
In the cycle of ages our midsummer morn.

On midsummer morning our hearts be contented,
If harmony reign, and if strife be prevented ;
Avoid thee ! thou demon of Retaliation,
Thou dire source of evil, — a neighboring nation
Mav rail on our statvs or sneer at our station.
But shall we return either railing or scorning
To mar our enjoyment on midsummer morning ?
No, rather the branch of the olive be worn.
Than the crest of the victor on midsummer mom.

■..--•*.r.-?;«<.'S<i

For midsummer morning our land must remember,
Revives not the tire-fiend from war's latent ember,
While breathing defiance to foes and to Fenians,
Goodwill should be shown to all lands and dominions,
However diverse be their mind and opinions,
May Mars nevermore sound a token of warning
To call to the carnage on midsummer morning ;
Nevermore may the mantle of freedom be torn
By the rude hand of faction on midsummer mom.

O midsummer morning, since springtide so tender
Has yielded her throne to thy season of splendor,
We'll trust that when time tells the nations our story,
He'll tell how when empires in winter grew hoary
Our own lingered on through an autumn of glory ;
Or sped like the sun in his circuit, returning
From dim winter twilight to midsummer morning ;
Our freedom unshackled, our garland unshorn,
And our hearts undivided, O midsummer morn.

THE ROYAL OAK.

Hearken all who care for glory,

Of a royal oak I sing,
Famed in ancient song and story

Of the forest trees the king ;
Never by the thunder smitten

Though the bolts around it played ;
*Tis the royal oak of Britain,

Nations rest beneath its shade.

Chorus— First of lands still it stands,

Still the watchword of the nations.
And the envy of all lands.

Many an ancient foe has vaunted

Of his power to work it woe,
But it still remains undaunted,

While its enemies lie low ;

IS.

Many a foe may yet endeavor
For to hurl it to the ground,

But his blade must on it shiver.
Or against himself rebound.

ry,

Chorus — First of lands still it stands,

Still the watchword of the nations,.
And the envy of all lands.

'Neath its wide and verdant shadow —

Traced by many a crystal stream —
Lie the cornfield, glebe and meadow

Sheltered from the scorching beam,
Though around its stem may gather

Darkest moss on every side —
Shielding from the stormy weather

Adding to its rugged pride.

Chorus — First of lands still it stands.

Still the watchword of all nations
And the envy ef all lands.

Where its native rock is riven.

There its roots are anchor'd fast.
And its branches spread to Heaven

Ever battling with the blast.
Friends may shun or foes may ban it

Still it standeth fair and free,
Founded on abase of granite,

Girdled by a subject sea.

CHORUS—First of lands still it stands,

Still the watchword of the nations
And the envy of all lands.

•^ 1S

inn

PUP

VERSES ON THE DOWNFALL OF NAPOLEON

THIRD.

BY A STERN REPUBLICAN.

Napoleon has fallen ! What visions of terror

May fade from the pages of history now,
No longer the mimic, repeating each error

Of him whose insignia encircled his brow ;
No more their just wrath need the nations dissemble

Nor envy his favor, nor shake at his frown,
His fate be a warning that tyrants may tremble.

That truth may prevail and injustice bow down.

O fate ! shall fair freedom continue to slumber,

Chained down to a tyrant's unfeeling commands ?
Her friends few or false, and her foes without number

Both agents of ill to Europa's fair lands ;
Shall traitors and tyrants continue to cumber

The halls consecrated to honor and fame,
Or deem we Napoleon the last of such lumber

By falsehood designed for her structure of shame ?

Shall mortals benighted continue to nourish

A monster more fatal to friend than to foe ;
Pride, fraud, and injustice unceasingly flourish,

And garner their harvest of ruin and woe ;
Base favorites of fortune, selected at random,

Oppress the less favored and fortunate crew;
What goddess arrayed in the guise of a granddame,

Could more incongruous appear to my view ?

No ! Fraud and injustice we'll strive for to banish,
Though crushed to the earth truth shall surely re-
. bound.

"While wrong and her wreakers are fated to vanish,
The race of ill-doers is never renowned.

:o^

Then, hail to past ages of glory returning,

When justice with banner of brightness'unfurled,

The shadows of midnight shall change to the morning,
And freedom triumphant reign over the world.

CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE.

NEW VERSION.

It was a (lark and gloomy day.
It was a fierce and deadly fray
That sent the light brigade away
That fatal mandate to obey

Of " Chai^ge upon the foe."
The rugged Russian gunners stand
B( -ido their guns — each lighted brand
Is lit ill ly held in trusty hand

To meet the coming blow :
Whe lo ! a band of horsemen brave —

Six hundred swords^not more —
Came sweeping like the mountain wave

That drives a wreck on shore ;
The earth resvjunds to charger's heel —
The crests wave high — the bugles peal.
The scabbards lend the ready steel,

As to their doom they go.
The brands ciescend — with iron tongue,
The mighty cannon roared and rung,
Till smoke wreaths round their guardians clung

Like gusts of mountain snow.

Their swords are now their only shield,
Since all must die before they yield,
-A foe lies bleeding on the field.:

With every sweeping blow ;
Yet cannon loaded to the brim
Still thunder forth their wrath and vim
'Gainst foes who rush upon the rim

Through smoke and blinding glow.

With ample space their ranks sweep wide

As upbay billow swings,
Now closer pressed dash like the tide

That from Niagara springs ;
To right — to left — behind — before,
Witli fiendish shriek or sullen roar
The raging grape-shot screamed and tore

And blood flowed down amain !
Still on — still onward like the wind,
What lies before they m.py not mind,
And dead and wounded lie behind,

By shot or sabre slain ;
Yet fiercer volleys round them glare
And answering thunders shake the air.
And horses dash, with saddles bare,

Across the reeking plain.

'Mid murderous guns their column twines ;
They shout — each purpled sabre shines
Amid concentr'ing bayonet line

Where further strife is vain.
Return ! return ! they rein ! they wheel !
And backward through the ^'auntlet reel
To ply a passage with the steel

Above their former dead.
And now that shattered remnant brave —

Three hundred swords — not more,
Is bearing back as wasted wave

Recoils from rocky shore.

Or|

Tl
Tl
Wl

Bi
All
Ti

As back they swept that fatal plain,
Their path was cumbered by th« slain

Or wounded writhing in their pain ;

The soil was damp and red ;
Their sabre fence they still made good,
Though through that strife their bravest blood
Was pouring in one ceaseless flood

And maiiy a life was sped.
But one by one thoy sank away
And fainted in the weary fray
Till through the mist of battle grey

They saw the cross of red.

Then failing courage fiercer burn'd
As each survivor's hope return'd -,
Beyond the deadly range they reel'd,
And such a shout of welcome peal'd —
The wounded on the battle-field

Might hear iu far below.
Both pride and sorrow seemed to say —
Tho' glorious was our course to-day,
Yet such another victory

Would seal a nation's woe.

BARRY BANNER AT THE SOUTH.

AS DETAILED BY PRIVATE GREEN, OF THE NEW
HAMPSHIRE IRREGULARS.

Part I. — Evening.

He may have had another name,

Though I have never found it,
But this was one that gatliered fame,

A glow of glory 'round it ;

We had it from the hero's mouth
When Sherman overhaul'd 'em,

'Twas Barry Banner at the south,
And nothing else they call'd him.

This Barry lived and loved and led

A troop of gallant j^eomen ;
When forty thousand planters fled

Before their vandal foemen ;
Columbia's army pouring in

Her ranks of Celt and German,
With all the fire of Sheridan,

And all the skill of Sherman.

A night, bold Barry riding in

Near old Atlanta Station,
Took thought to marvel at a din

Of transient agitation ;
He heard a clamour deep and loud

Suggesting thought of treason,
He saw new faces in the crowd,

And he would know the reason.

A tawny dame — Undine by name.

His foster-mother truly ;
To her he beckon'd and she came,

His words to answer duly ;
Admiring first his manner mild

And noting how he rode too—
" The Lord have mercy on you child,

Why, what a man you've grow'd to."

" O, certain sure how caine I here,
'Twas just your uncle Harry
That sent t(8 in — that's me, my dear.
Me and your cousin Clarry ;

Some said, the Northmen mean to bring

That Blue Brigade of Hangels,
' So so/ said he, * I'll clip her wing
Before she sees the Angels.*

" For though you be my Clara's love,

And she your proper wages.
And though she's true as worlds above,

To all that she engages ;
Hed hold her with an iron glove —

O pity — how she rages —
To-night I know my darling dove

Would break a hundred cages.

" Aye, near the stars her fancy flies,"
A sudden gloom just hiding .
The glad surprise in Barry's eyes
For that especial tiding ;
'* To her — to him, say nothing pray,
He counts me but a ninny,
She thinks I battle far away
For freedom and Virginia.

*• Since all the hours of day are fled.

All things to rest are calling,
And all the stars are rising red.

And all the dews are falling ;
And brief the hours of rest to-night ;

No, not one word of warning.
But like the lark that meets the light-

ril meet her in the morning.

Part II. — Midnight.

Half dressed across his blanket flung,
The silent hours employing,

In such a sleep as but the young
And just are found enjoying ;

But not for lonff — a startled scream.
That like the moon on ocean —

Dragg'd o'er the level of his dream
A tide of wild commotion.

Seem'd Undine's voice from where away,

That call'd her sleeping master
With accents of a wild dismay

And tidings of disaster ;
With Clara gone, or Clara fled,

He knew the thought intended ;
He lost the very words she said,

But all was comprehended.

I heard her flying in my dream,

And voices echo " Treason !"
But I will mount the Morning Beam

And she shall hear to reason ;
So half in grief and half in rage,

With that beloved deserter,
Affliction seemed his heritage.

The sorrows of a Werter.

He called aloud for new command.

Commission and indenture,
He looked to thigh, to heel, and hand,

And armed him for the venture ;
Then from a stately soldier's hand

He took his special order.
And closer drew the belted brand

To guard him o'er the border.

To saddle sprang — the good steed grey

The darkness seemed to swallow ;
Oh swift the bird had flown away,

But swifter did he follow ;
And silence settled o'er the camp,

Nor question, nor replying.
Until they heard the flying tramp

In distant echoes dying.

J
1

69
Part III. — Morning.

Now halt*-a-hundred miles away,

Not yet all danger scorning —
The Army of the Union lay

And waited for the morning.
My eye was true — my head was hard —

My heart had never failed me,
So for the morning watch and ward

My masters had detailed me.

The starry east shall kindle soon

To light and lustre wholly,
While down the west a great red moon

Was sinking, oh so slowly ;
And as she sank and Phosphor glow'd

To greet the dawn returning,
With one companion south I rode

And waited for the morning.

r ;

We rein'd — and from a wooded height

The opening route reviewing —
Hark — ho — a friend — in rapid flight,

And yonder foe pursuing ;
Oh, how they rode — her steed below

Seem'd every muscle straining.
But — fast and fiery came the foe

Forever slowly gaining.

One mile away rode lady fair

And half a league the stranger,
And if we speed to meet her there

She's safe from thought of danger ;
When all at once — her winning steed

With sudden stop and stumble —
Just saved his guide— and lost his lead

By more than half a tumble.

One shot to rouse the warning drum,

To tell our camp the story
And then I beckoned to my chum

To ride with me to glory ; ,
Alas — we rode through heavy grouB.d,

A fearfuHack to travel,
While faster came that flying bound

Along the flying gravel.

The lights were failing from the west,
The dawn was growing clearer,

As nearer to the prize we press'd —
But Barry was the nearer.

•

She reined — her riding- wand she drew —

Like dignity oflended —
One glance he threw as past he flew

Before the blow descended ;
And now he knew the courser true

That bore his bride-intended,
Had lost a nail and cast a shoe,

And so that race was ended.

He passed — he wheel'd — he Loked on her,

They read each other's faces,
We near'd — he prest the rankling spur

That taught that steed his paces ;
Like light the mettled courser flash'd

To win his last of races.
And sped away just as we dashed

Upon their flying traces.

For Barry bent his stately head

In mimic adoration,
And " Home again," he only said,

And swept her from her station ;

We gallop'd like Appollo's team,

When fiery Phaeton claim'd 'em,
But faster fled the Morning Beam,

(For so had Barry named him).

I saw my prize of prizes go

In passive non-resistance,
Borne on the vandal's saddle-bow

And fading in the distance ;
One parting shot relieved my mind.

She said the bullet pass'd her,
But Barry swore 'twas left behind

They rode so much the faster.

So he sought her — so he caught her,

Staked his all upon the throw,
So she changed her chilling hautor

For affection's sunny glow ;
Else her sire had doomed his daughter

To a captive's lonely woe.
And a course of bread and water.

Like the Libby of the foe.

O, well, well away ! on another day.

From another fray — in another manner,
That twain rode in on the good steed grey,

For they came in with the white truce banner.
We loved them well — and Clara said

What sage or prophet said before —
When friends would question why she fled,

She knew not what she fled before.

We question'd him like — well, I'll say

Some live-by-law attorney —
Of how he chanced to find his way

That dark midsummer journey ; —
For now the circling year had burned

Green May to ripe September,
And this the answer he return'd,

As pear as I reipen^b^r,

Due south he rode that night in June,

Long hours of lonely riding,
She in the glare of Luna's noon,

The doubtful distance hiding ;
Till near the dawn — blissful boon —

O'er hill and valley gliding
Her feather mark'd against the moon,

Became his star of guiding.

^Still onward sweeps old Time's wild tide,

And now some nine-and-twenty.
Long years have pass'd since that wild ride,

Long years of peace and plenty ;
And flying time has tam'd their pride

And made their blood run colder.
For Barry Banner and his bride

Have grown a little older.

Victor Condy.

MOTHER OF LIVING EMPIRES.

" Lone mother of dead empires," said Byron thu3 of

Rome :
Mo ther of living empires we'll call our regal home ;
Our island home Britannia — that queen among the

powers.
Whose standard hails a rising sun the four-and-twenty

hours .

Mother of living empires, Europa long ago

Sat on her throne, and "which shall lead?" the

nations asked to know ;
" Who'll speed the Cross, who'll guide the Press,, and

who shall rule the sea ? "
Europa marked her favored lairds and gave the choice

totb^e,

Mother of living empires, bej'-ond the rising sun,
Down the far years of care-fraught toil behold an

empire won.
A land of ivory, spice and gems, as in yon golden

age,—
Still India's empress (Sheba's Queen) would hear the

Hebrew sage.

Mother of living empires, wild Oceania's lands
Regard, love, honor, and obey the sceptre of thy

hands :
Australia's world, Borneo's clime, the islands look to

thee;
Thou art the source or standard there of all the powers

that be.

Mother of living empires, soon gentle Candace reigns
O'er a new realm of ransom'd slaves — the Land of

Stricken Chains,
Where Africa hails the Crimson Cross advancing from

the sea ;
" Good Hope," the watchward of thy sway since it

began to be.

Mother of living empires, beyond the setting sun.
Among the stars that deck thy crown behold a rising

one;
Our own Dominion, broad and fair, right regal her

domain, —
The youngest she, but not least full worthy of the

train.

And with her, looking to the light advancing by her

side.
To scale the future's haughty height with profit and

with pride,

Though paths diverge or some should fail to give the

honor due,
Columbia looks across the wave and names thee mother

too.

Mother of living empires, those nations are of thee ;
Thy fame, their birthright and their boast, thy

strength and liberty.
Free as the planet globes are free, that ring around

the sun ;
Five nations in five worlds art thou — the nations are

but one.

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