Chapter 9

Yet, like some old remembered psalm, Or sweet, familiar face, Not less because of commonness You love the day and place.

And not in vain in this soft air Shall hard-strung nerves relax, Not all in vain the o'erworn brain Forego its daily tax.

The lust of power, the greed of gain Have all the year their own; The haunting demons well may let Our one bright day alone.

Unheeded let the newsboy call, Aside the ledger lay The world will keep its treadmill step Though we fall out to-day.

The truants of life's weary school, Without excuse from thrift We change for once the gains of toil For God's unpurchased gift.

From ceiled rooms, from silent books, From crowded car and town, Dear Mother Earth, upon thy lap, We lay our tired heads down.

Cool, summer wind, our heated brows; Blue river, through the green Of clustering pines, refresh the eyes Which all too much have seen.

For us these pleasant woodland ways Are thronged with memories old, Have felt the grasp of friendly hands And heard love's story told.

A sacred presence overbroods The earth whereon we meet; These winding forest-paths are trod By more than mortal feet.

Old friends called from us by the voice Which they alone could hear, From mystery to mystery, From life to life, draw near.

More closely for the sake of them Each other's hands we press; Our voices take from them a tone Of deeper tenderness.

Our joy is theirs, their trust is ours, Alike below, above, Or here or there, about us fold The arms of one great love!

We ask to-day no countersign, No party names we own; Unlabelled, individual, We bring ourselves alone.

What cares the unconventioned wood For pass-words of the town? The sound of fashion's shibboleth The laughing waters drown.

Here cant forgets his dreary tone, And care his face forlorn; The liberal air and sunshine laugh The bigot's zeal to scorn.

From manhood's weary shoulder falls His load of selfish cares; And woman takes her rights as flowers And brooks and birds take theirs.

The license of the happy woods, The brook's release are ours; The freedom of the unshamed wind Among the glad-eyed flowers.

Yet here no evil thought finds place, Nor foot profane comes in; Our grove, like that of Samothrace, Is set apart from sin.

We walk on holy ground; above A sky more holy smiles; The chant of the beatitudes Swells down these leafy aisles.

Thanks to the gracious Providence That brings us here once more; For memories of the good behind And hopes of good before.

And if, unknown to us, sweet days Of June like this must come, Unseen of us these laurels clothe The river-banks with bloom;

And these green paths must soon be trod By other feet than ours, Full long may annual pilgrims come To keep the Feast of Flowers;

The matron be a girl once more, The bearded man a boy, And we, in heaven's eternal June, Be glad for earthly joy!

1876.

HYMN

FOR THE OPENING OF THOMAS STARR KING'S HOUSE OF WORSHIP, 1864.

The poetic and patriotic preacher, who had won fame in the East, went to California in 1860 and became a power on the Pacific coast. It was not long after the opening of the house of worship built for him that he died.

Amidst these glorious works of Thine, The solemn minarets of the pine, And awful Shasta's icy shrine,--

Where swell Thy hymns from wave and gale, And organ-thunders never fail, Behind the cataract's silver veil,

Our puny walls to Thee we raise, Our poor reed-music sounds Thy praise: Forgive, O Lord, our childish ways!

For, kneeling on these altar-stairs, We urge Thee not with selfish prayers, Nor murmur at our daily cares.

Before Thee, in an evil day, Our country's bleeding heart we lay, And dare not ask Thy hand to stay;

But, through the war-cloud, pray to Thee For union, but a union free, With peace that comes of purity!

That Thou wilt bare Thy arm to, save And, smiting through this Red Sea wave, Make broad a pathway for the slave!

For us, confessing all our need, We trust nor rite nor word nor deed, Nor yet the broken staff of creed.

Assured alone that Thou art good To each, as to the multitude, Eternal Love and Fatherhood,--

Weak, sinful, blind, to Thee we kneel, Stretch dumbly forth our hands, and feel Our weakness is our strong appeal.

So, by these Western gates of Even We wait to see with Thy forgiven The opening Golden Gate of Heaven!

Suffice it now. In time to be Shall holier altars rise to Thee,-- Thy Church our broad humanity

White flowers of love its walls shall climb, Soft bells of peace shall ring its chime, Its days shall all be holy time.

A sweeter song shall then be heard,-- The music of the world's accord Confessing Christ, the Inward Word!

That song shall swell from shore to shore, One hope, one faith, one love, restore The seamless robe that Jesus wore.

HYMN

FOR THE HOUSE OF WORSHIP AT GEORGETOWN, ERECTED IN MEMORY OF A MOTHER.

The giver of the house was the late George Peabody, of London.

Thou dwellest not, O Lord of all In temples which thy children raise; Our work to thine is mean and small, And brief to thy eternal days.

Forgive the weakness and the pride, If marred thereby our gift may be, For love, at least, has sanctified The altar that we rear to thee.

The heart and not the hand has wrought From sunken base to tower above The image of a tender thought, The memory of a deathless love!

And though should never sound of speech Or organ echo from its wall, Its stones would pious lessons teach, Its shade in benedictions fall.

Here should the dove of peace be found, And blessings and not curses given; Nor strife profane, nor hatred wound, The mingled loves of earth and heaven.

Thou, who didst soothe with dying breath The dear one watching by Thy cross, Forgetful of the pains of death In sorrow for her mighty loss,

In memory of that tender claim, O Mother-born, the offering take, And make it worthy of Thy name, And bless it for a mother's sake!

1868.

A SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATION.

Read at the President's Levee, Brown University, 29th 6th month, 1870.

To-day the plant by Williams set Its summer bloom discloses; The wilding sweethrier of his prayers Is crowned with cultured roses.

Once more the Island State repeats The lesson that he taught her, And binds his pearl of charity Upon her brown-locked daughter.

Is 't fancy that he watches still His Providence plantations? That still the careful Founder takes A part on these occasions.

Methinks I see that reverend form, Which all of us so well know He rises up to speak; he jogs The presidential elbow.

"Good friends," he says, "you reap a field I sowed in self-denial, For toleration had its griefs And charity its trial.

"Great grace, as saith Sir Thomas More, To him must needs be given Who heareth heresy and leaves The heretic to Heaven!

"I hear again the snuffled tones, I see in dreary vision Dyspeptic dreamers, spiritual bores, And prophets with a mission.

"Each zealot thrust before my eyes His Scripture-garbled label; All creeds were shouted in my ears As with the tongues of Babel.

"Scourged at one cart-tail, each denied The hope of every other; Each martyr shook his branded fist At the conscience of his brother!

"How cleft the dreary drone of man. The shriller pipe of woman, As Gorton led his saints elect, Who held all things in common!

"Their gay robes trailed in ditch and swamp, And torn by thorn and thicket, The dancing-girls of Merry Mount Came dragging to my wicket.

"Shrill Anabaptists, shorn of ears; Gray witch-wives, hobbling slowly; And Antinomians, free of law, Whose very sins were holy.

"Hoarse ranters, crazed Fifth Monarchists, Of stripes and bondage braggarts, Pale Churchmen, with singed rubrics snatched From Puritanic fagots.

"And last, not least, the Quakers came, With tongues still sore from burning, The Bay State's dust from off their feet Before my threshold spurning;

"A motley host, the Lord's debris, Faith's odds and ends together; Well might I shrink from guests with lungs Tough as their breeches leather

"If, when the hangman at their heels Came, rope in hand to catch them, I took the hunted outcasts in, I never sent to fetch them.

"I fed, but spared them not a whit; I gave to all who walked in, Not clams and succotash alone, But stronger meat of doctrine.

"I proved the prophets false, I pricked The bubble of perfection, And clapped upon their inner light The snuffers of election.

"And looking backward on my times, This credit I am taking; I kept each sectary's dish apart, No spiritual chowder making.

"Where now the blending signs of sect Would puzzle their assorter, The dry-shod Quaker kept the land, The Baptist held the water.

"A common coat now serves for both, The hat's no more a fixture; And which was wet and which was dry, Who knows in such a mixture?

"Well! He who fashioned Peter's dream To bless them all is able; And bird and beast and creeping thing Make clean upon His table!

"I walked by my own light; but when The ways of faith divided, Was I to force unwilling feet To tread the path that I did?

"I touched the garment-hem of truth, Yet saw not all its splendor; I knew enough of doubt to feel For every conscience tender.

"God left men free of choice, as when His Eden-trees were planted; Because they chose amiss, should I Deny the gift He granted?

"So, with a common sense of need, Our common weakness feeling, I left them with myself to God And His all-gracious dealing!

"I kept His plan whose rain and sun To tare and wheat are given; And if the ways to hell were free, I left then free to heaven!"

Take heart with us, O man of old, Soul-freedom's brave confessor, So love of God and man wax strong, Let sect and creed be lesser.

The jarring discords of thy day In ours one hymn are swelling; The wandering feet, the severed paths, All seek our Father's dwelling.

And slowly learns the world the truth That makes us all thy debtor,-- That holy life is more than rite, And spirit more than letter;

That they who differ pole-wide serve Perchance the common Master, And other sheep He hath than they Who graze one narrow pasture!

For truth's worst foe is he who claims To act as God's avenger, And deems, beyond his sentry-beat, The crystal walls in danger!

Who sets for heresy his traps Of verbal quirk and quibble, And weeds the garden of the Lord With Satan's borrowed dibble.

To-day our hearts like organ keys One Master's touch are feeling; The branches of a common Vine Have only leaves of healing.

Co-workers, yet from varied fields, We share this restful nooning; The Quaker with the Baptist here Believes in close communing.

Forgive, dear saint, the playful tone, Too light for thy deserving; Thanks for thy generous faith in man, Thy trust in God unswerving.

Still echo in the hearts of men The words that thou hast spoken; No forge of hell can weld again The fetters thou hast broken.

The pilgrim needs a pass no more From Roman or Genevan; Thought-free, no ghostly tollman keeps Henceforth the road to Heaven!

CHICAGO

The great fire at Chicago was on 8-10 October, 1871.

Men said at vespers: "All is well!" In one wild night the city fell; Fell shrines of prayer and marts of gain Before the fiery hurricane.

On threescore spires had sunset shone, Where ghastly sunrise looked on none. Men clasped each other's hands, and said "The City of the West is dead!"

Brave hearts who fought, in slow retreat, The fiends of fire from street to street, Turned, powerless, to the blinding glare, The dumb defiance of despair.

A sudden impulse thrilled each wire That signalled round that sea of fire; Swift words of cheer, warm heart-throbs came; In tears of pity died the flame!

From East, from West, from South and North, The messages of hope shot forth, And, underneath the severing wave, The world, full-handed, reached to save.

Fair seemed the old; but fairer still The new, the dreary void shall fill With dearer homes than those o'erthrown, For love shall lay each corner-stone.

Rise, stricken city! from thee throw The ashen sackcloth of thy woe; And build, as to Amphion's strain, To songs of cheer thy walls again!

How shrivelled in thy hot distress The primal sin of selfishness! How instant rose, to take thy part, The angel in the human heart!

Ah! not in vain the flames that tossed Above thy dreadful holocaust; The Christ again has preached through thee The Gospel of Humanity!

Then lift once more thy towers on high, And fret with spires the western sky, To tell that God is yet with us, And love is still miraculous!

1871.

KINSMAN.

Died at the Island of Panay (Philippine group), aged nineteen years.

Where ceaseless Spring her garland twines, As sweetly shall the loved one rest, As if beneath the whispering pines And maple shadows of the West.

Ye mourn, O hearts of home! for him, But, haply, mourn ye not alone; For him shall far-off eyes be dim, And pity speak in tongues unknown.

There needs no graven line to give The story of his blameless youth; All hearts shall throb intuitive, And nature guess the simple truth.

The very meaning of his name Shall many a tender tribute win; The stranger own his sacred claim, And all the world shall be his kin.

And there, as here, on main and isle, The dews of holy peace shall fall, The same sweet heavens above him smile, And God's dear love be over all 1874.

THE GOLDEN WEDDING OF LONGWOOD.

Longwood, not far from Bayard Taylor's birthplace in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, was the home of my esteemed friends John and Hannah Cox, whose golden wedding was celebrated in 1874.

With fifty years between you and your well-kept wedding vow, The Golden Age, old friends of mine, is not a fable now.

And, sweet as has life's vintage been through all your pleasant past, Still, as at Cana's marriage-feast, the best wine is the last!

Again before me, with your names, fair Chester's landscape comes, Its meadows, woods, and ample barns, and quaint, stone-builded homes.

The smooth-shorn vales, the wheaten slopes, the boscage green and soft, Of which their poet sings so well from towered Cedarcroft.

And lo! from all the country-side come neighbors, kith and kin; From city, hamlet, farm-house old, the wedding guests come in.

And they who, without scrip or purse, mob-hunted, travel-worn, In Freedom's age of martyrs came, as victors now return.

Older and slower, yet the same, files in the long array, And hearts are light and eyes are glad, though heads are badger-gray.

The fire-tried men of Thirty-eight who saw with me the fall, Midst roaring flames and shouting mob, of Pennsylvania Hall;

And they of Lancaster who turned the cheeks of tyrants pale, Singing of freedom through the grates of Moyamensing jail!

And haply with them, all unseen, old comrades, gone before, Pass, silently as shadows pass, within your open door,--

The eagle face of Lindley Coates, brave Garrett's daring zeal, Christian grace of Pennock, the steadfast heart of Neal.

Ah me! beyond all power to name, the worthies tried and true, Grave men, fair women, youth and maid, pass by in hushed review.

Of varying faiths, a common cause fused all their hearts in one. God give them now, whate'er their names, the peace of duty done!

How gladly would I tread again the old-remembered places, Sit down beside your hearth once more and look in the dear old faces!

And thank you for the lessons your fifty years are teaching, For honest lives that louder speak than half our noisy preaching;

For your steady faith and courage in that dark and evil time, When the Golden Rule was treason, and to feed the hungry, crime;

For the poor slave's house of refuge when the hounds were on his track, And saint and sinner, church and state, joined hands to send him back.

Blessings upon you!--What you did for each sad, suffering one, So homeless, faint, and naked, unto our Lord was done!

Fair fall on Kennett's pleasant vales and Longwood's bowery ways The mellow sunset of your lives, friends of my early days.

May many more of quiet years be added to your sum, And, late at last, in tenderest love, the beckoning angel come.

Dear hearts are here, dear hearts are there, alike below, above; Our friends are now in either world, and love is sure of love.

1874.

HYMN FOR THE OPENING OF PLYMOUTH CHURCH, ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA.

All things are Thine: no gift have we, Lord of all gifts, to offer Thee; And hence with grateful hearts to-day, Thy own before Thy feet we lay.

Thy will was in the builders' thought; Thy hand unseen amidst us wrought; Through mortal motive, scheme and plan, Thy wise eternal purpose ran.

No lack Thy perfect fulness knew; For human needs and longings grew This house of prayer, this home of rest, In the fair garden of the West.

In weakness and in want we call On Thee for whom the heavens are small; Thy glory is Thy children's good, Thy joy Thy tender Fatherhood.

O Father! deign these walls to bless, Fill with Thy love their emptiness, And let their door a gateway be To lead us from ourselves to Thee!

1872.

LEXINGTON 1775.

No Berserk thirst of blood had they, No battle-joy was theirs, who set Against the alien bayonet Their homespun breasts in that old day.

Their feet had trodden peaceful, ways; They loved not strife, they dreaded pain; They saw not, what to us is plain, That God would make man's wrath his praise.

No seers were they, but simple men; Its vast results the future hid The meaning of the work they did Was strange and dark and doubtful then.

Swift as their summons came they left The plough mid-furrow standing still, The half-ground corn grist in the mill, The spade in earth, the axe in cleft.

They went where duty seemed to call, They scarcely asked the reason why; They only knew they could but die, And death was not the worst of all!

Of man for man the sacrifice, All that was theirs to give, they gave. The flowers that blossomed from their grave Have sown themselves beneath all skies.

Their death-shot shook the feudal tower, And shattered slavery's chain as well; On the sky's dome, as on a bell, Its echo struck the world's great hour.

That fateful echo is not dumb The nations listening to its sound Wait, from a century's vantage-ground, The holier triumphs yet to come,--

The bridal time of Law and Love, The gladness of the world's release, When, war-sick, at the feet of Peace The hawk shall nestle with the dove!--

The golden age of brotherhood Unknown to other rivalries Than of the mild humanities, And gracious interchange of good,

When closer strand shall lean to strand, Till meet, beneath saluting flags, The eagle of our mountain-crags, The lion of our Motherland!

1875.

THE LIBRARY.

Sung at the opening of the Haverhill Library, November 11, 1875.

"Let there be light!" God spake of old, And over chaos dark and cold, And through the dead and formless frame Of nature, life and order came.

Faint was the light at first that shone On giant fern and mastodon, On half-formed plant and beast of prey, And man as rude and wild as they.

Age after age, like waves, o'erran The earth, uplifting brute and man; And mind, at length, in symbols dark Its meanings traced on stone and bark.

On leaf of palm, on sedge-wrought roll, On plastic clay and leathern scroll, Man wrote his thoughts; the ages passed, And to! the Press was found at last!

Then dead souls woke; the thoughts of men Whose bones were dust revived again; The cloister's silence found a tongue, Old prophets spake, old poets sung.

And here, to-day, the dead look down, The kings of mind again we crown; We hear the voices lost so long, The sage's word, the sibyl's song.

Here Greek and Roman find themselves Alive along these crowded shelves; And Shakespeare treads again his stage, And Chaucer paints anew his age.

As if some Pantheon's marbles broke Their stony trance, and lived and spoke, Life thrills along the alcoved hall, The lords of thought await our call!

"I WAS A STRANGER, AND YE TOOK ME IN."

An incident in St. Augustine, Florida.

'Neath skies that winter never knew The air was full of light and balm, And warm and soft the Gulf wind blew Through orange bloom and groves of palm.

A stranger from the frozen North, Who sought the fount of health in vain, Sank homeless on the alien earth, And breathed the languid air with pain.

God's angel came! The tender shade Of pity made her blue eye dim; Against her woman's breast she laid The drooping, fainting head of him.

She bore him to a pleasant room, Flower-sweet and cool with salt sea air, And watched beside his bed, for whom His far-off sisters might not care.

She fanned his feverish brow and smoothed Its lines of pain with tenderest touch. With holy hymn and prayer she soothed The trembling soul that feared so much.

Through her the peace that passeth sight Came to him, as he lapsed away As one whose troubled dreams of night Slide slowly into tranquil day.

The sweetness of the Land of Flowers Upon his lonely grave she laid The jasmine dropped its golden showers, The orange lent its bloom and shade.

And something whispered in her thought, More sweet than mortal voices be "The service thou for him hast wrought O daughter! hath been done for me."

1875.

CENTENNIAL HYMN.

Written for the opening of the International Exhibition, Philadelphia, May 10, 1876. The music for the hymn was written by John K. Paine, and may be found in The Atlantic Monthly for June, 1876.

I. Our fathers' God! from out whose hand The centuries fall like grains of sand, We meet to-day, united, free, And loyal to our land and Thee, To thank Thee for the era done, And trust Thee for the opening one.

II. Here, where of old, by Thy design, The fathers spake that word of Thine Whose echo is the glad refrain Of rended bolt and falling chain, To grace our festal time, from all The zones of earth our guests we call.