Chapter 1
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Second
BOOK OF VERSE
BY EUGENE FIELD
Second Book of Tales. Songs and Other Verse. The Holy Cross and Other Tales. The House. The Love Affairs of a Bibliomaniac. A Little Book Of Profitable Tales. A Little Book of Western Verse. Second Book of Verse. Each, 1 vol., 16mo, $1.25 A Little Book of Profitable Tales. Cameo Edition with etched portrait. 16mo, $1.25. Echoes from the Sabine Farm. 4to, $2.00 With Trumpet and Drum. 16mo, $1.00. Love Songs of Childhood. 16mo, $1.00.
Second
BOOK OF VERSE
BY
EUGENE FIELD
NEW YORK CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 1896
_Copyright, 1892_,
BY JULIA SUTHERLAND FIELD.
_A little bit of a woman came Athwart my path one day; So tiny was she that she seemed to be A pixy strayed from the misty sea, Or a wandering greenwood fay._
_"Oho, you little elf!" I cried, "And what are you doing here? So tiny as you will never do For the brutal rush and hullaballoo Of this practical world, I fear."_
_"Voice have I, good sir," said she.-- "'Tis soft as an Angel's sigh, But to fancy a word of yours were heard In all the din of this world's absurd!" Smiling, I made reply._
_"Hands have I, good sir" she quoth.-- "Marry, and that have you! But amid the strife and the tumult rife In all the struggle and battle for life, What can those wee hands do?"_
_"Eyes have I, good sir," she said.-- "Sooth, you have," quoth I, "And tears shall flow therefrom, I trow, And they betimes shall dim with woe, As the hard, hard years go by!"_
_That little bit of a woman cast Her two eyes full on me, And they smote me sore to my inmost core, And they hold me slaved forevermore,-- Yet would I not be free!_
_That little bit of a woman's hands Reached up into my breast And rent apart my scoffing heart,-- And they buffet it still with such sweet art As cannot be expressed._
_That little bit of a woman's voice Hath grown most wondrous dear; Above the blare of all elsewhere (An inspiration that mocks at care) It riseth full and clear._
_Dear one, I bless the subtle power That makes me wholly thine; And I'm proud to say that I bless the day When a little woman wrought her way Into this life of mine!_
The Verse in this Second Book.
PAGE
FATHER'S WAY 1
TO MY MOTHER 5
KÖRNER'S BATTLE PRAYER 7
GOSLING STEW 9
CATULLUS TO LESBIA 12
JOHN SMITH 13
ST. MARTIN'S LANE 22
THE SINGING IN GOD'S-ACRE 25
DEAR OLD LONDON 28
CORSICAN LULLABY (Folk-Song) 33
THE CLINK OF THE ICE 35
BELLS OF NOTRE DAME 39
LOVER'S LANE, ST. JO 41
CRUMPETS AND TEA 44
AN IMITATION OF DR. WATTS 47
INTRY-MINTRY 48
MODJESKY AS CAMEEL 51
TELLING THE BEES 60
THE TEA-GOWN 62
DOCTORS 64
BARBARA 69
THE CAFÉ MOLINEAU 72
HOLLY AND IVY 75
THE BOLTONS, 22 77
DIBDIN'S GHOST 83
THE HAWTHORNE CHILDREN 87
THE BOTTLE AND THE BIRD 91
AN ECLOGUE FROM VIRGIL 96
PITTYPAT AND TIPPYTOE 103
ASHES ON THE SLIDE 106
THE LOST CUPID OF MOSCHUS 110
CHRISTMAS EVE 113
CARLSBAD 115
THE SUGAR-PLUM TREE 120
RED 122
JEWISH LULLABY 124
AT CHEYENNE 126
THE NAUGHTY DOLL 128
THE PNEUMOGASTRIC NERVE 131
TEENY-WEENY 134
TELKA 137
PLAINT OF A MISSOURI 'COON 146
ARMENIAN LULLABY 151
THE PARTRIDGE 153
CORINTHIAN HALL 156
THE RED, RED WEST 162
THE THREE KINGS OF COLOGNE 165
IPSWICH 167
BILL'S TENOR AND MY BASS 170
FIDUCIT (from the German) 175
THE "ST. JO GAZETTE" 177
IN AMSTERDAM 183
TO THE PASSING SAINT 186
THE FISHERMAN'S FEAST 188
NIGHTFALL IN DORDRECHT (Slumber Song) 191
THE ONION TART 193
GRANDMA'S BOMBAZINE 197
RARE ROAST BEEF 203
GANDERFEATHER'S GIFT 208
OLD TIMES, OLD FRIENDS, OLD LOVE 211
OUR WHIPPINGS 213
BION'S SONG OF EROS 218
MR. BILLINGS OF LOUISVILLE 220
POET AND KING 222
LYDIA DICK 225
LIZZIE 229
LITTLE HOMER'S SLATE 231
ALWAYS RIGHT 233
"TROT, MY GOOD STEED" (Volkslied) 235
PROVIDENCE AND THE DOG 237
GETTIN' ON 242
THE SCHNELLEST ZUG 245
BETHLEHEM-TOWN 250
THE PEACE OF CHRISTMAS-TIME 252
DOINGS OF DELSARTE 254
BUTTERCUP, POPPY, FORGET-ME-NOT 259
Second Book of Verse.
FATHER'S WAY.
MY father was no pessimist; he loved the things of earth,-- Its cheerfulness and sunshine, its music and its mirth. He never sighed or moped around whenever things went wrong,-- I warrant me he'd mocked at fate with some defiant song; But, being he warn't much on tune, when times looked sort o' blue, He'd whistle softly to himself this only tune he knew,--
Now mother, when she heard that tune which father whistled so, Would say, "There's something wrong to-day with Ephraim, I know; He never tries to make believe he's happy that 'ere way But that I'm certain as can be there's somethin' wrong to pay." And so betimes, quite natural-like, to us observant youth There seemed suggestion in that tune of deep, pathetic truth.
When Brother William joined the war, a lot of us went down To see the gallant soldier boys right gayly out of town. A-comin' home, poor mother cried as if her heart would break, And all us children, too,--for _hers_, and _not_ for _William's_ sake! But father, trudgin' on ahead, his hands behind him so, Kept whistlin' to himself, so sort of solemn-like and low.
And when my oldest sister, Sue, was married and went West, Seemed like it took the tuck right out of mother and the rest. She was the sunlight in our home,--why, father used to say It wouldn't seem like home at all if Sue should go away; But when she went, a-leavin' us all sorrer and all tears, Poor father whistled lonesome-like--and went to feed the steers.
When crops were bad, and other ills befell our homely lot, He'd set of nights and try to act as if he minded not; And when came death and bore away the one he worshipped so, How vainly did his lips belie the heart benumbed with woe! You see the telltale whistle told a mood he'd not admit,-- He'd always stopped his whistlin' when he thought we noticed it.
I'd like to see that stooping form and hoary head again,-- To see the honest, hearty smile that cheered his fellow-men. Oh, could I kiss the kindly lips that spake no creature wrong, And share the rapture of the heart that overflowed with song! Oh, could I hear the little tune he whistled long ago, When he did battle with the griefs he would not have _us_ know!
TO MY MOTHER.
HOW fair you are, my mother! Ah, though 't is many a year Since you were here, Still do I see your beauteous face, And with the glow Of your dark eyes cometh a grace Of long ago. So gentle, too, my mother! Just as of old, upon my brow, Like benedictions now, Falleth your dear hand's touch; And still, as then, A voice that glads me over-much Cometh again, My fair and gentle mother!
How you have loved me, mother, I have not power to tell, Knowing full well That even in the rest above It is your will To watch and guard me with your love, Loving me still. And, as of old, my mother, I am content to be a child, By mother's love beguiled From all these other charms; So to the last Within thy dear, protecting arms Hold thou me fast, My guardian angel, mother!
KÖRNER'S BATTLE PRAYER.
FATHER, I cry to Thee! Round me the billows of battle are pouring, Round me the thunders of battle are roaring; Father on high, hear Thou my cry,-- Father, oh, lead Thou me!
Father, oh, lead Thou me! Lead me, o'er Death and its terrors victorious,-- See, I acknowledge Thy will as all-glorious; Point Thou the way, lead where it may,-- God, I acknowledge Thee!
God, I acknowledge Thee! As when the dead leaves of autumn whirl round me, So, when the horrors of war would confound me, Laugh I at fear, knowing Thee near,-- Father, oh, bless Thou me!
Father, oh, bless Thou me! Living or dying, waking or sleeping, Such as I am, I commit to Thy keeping: Frail though I be, Lord, bless Thou me! Father, I worship Thee!
Father, I worship Thee! Not for the love of the riches that perish, But for the freedom and justice we cherish, Stand we or fall, blessing Thee, all-- God, I submit to Thee!
God, I submit to Thee! Yea, though the terrors of Death pass before me, Yea, with the darkness of Death stealing o'er me, Lord, unto Thee bend I the knee,-- Father, I cry to Thee!
GOSLING STEW.
IN Oberhausen, on a time, I fared as might a king; And now I feel the muse sublime Inspire me to embalm in rhyme That succulent and sapid thing Behight of gentile and of Jew A gosling stew!
The good Herr Schmitz brought out his best,-- Soup, cutlet, salad, roast,-- And I partook with hearty zest, And fervently anon I blessed That generous and benignant host, When suddenly dawned on my view A gosling stew!
I sniffed it coming on apace, And as its odors filled The curious little dining-place, I felt a glow suffuse my face, I felt my very marrow thrilled With rapture altogether new,-- 'Twas gosling stew!
These callow birds had never played In yonder village pond; Had never through the gateway strayed, And plaintive spissant music made Upon the grassy green beyond: Cooped up, they simply ate and grew For gosling stew!
My doctor said I mustn't eat High food and seasoned game; But surely gosling is a meat With tender nourishment replete. Leastwise I gayly ate this same; I braved dyspepsy--wouldn't you For gosling stew?
I've feasted where the possums grow, Roast turkey have I tried, The joys of canvasbacks I know, And frequently I've eaten crow In bleak and chill Novembertide; I'd barter all that native crew For gosling stew!
And when from Rhineland I adjourn To seek my Yankee shore, Back shall my memory often turn, And fiercely shall my palate burn For sweets I'll taste, alas! no more,-- Oh, that mein kleine frau could brew A gosling stew!
Vain are these keen regrets of mine, And vain the song I sing; Yet would I quaff a stoup of wine To Oberhausen auf der Rhine, Where fared I like a very king: And here's a last and fond adieu To gosling stew!
CATULLUS TO LESBIA.
COME, my Lesbia, no repining; Let us love while yet we may! Suns go on forever shining; But when we have had our day, Sleep perpetual shall o'ertake us, And no morrow's dawn awake us.
Come, in yonder nook reclining, Where the honeysuckle climbs, Let us mock at Fate's designing, Let us kiss a thousand times! And if they shall prove too few, dear, When they're kissed we'll start anew, dear!
And should any chance to see us, Goodness! how they'll agonize! How they'll wish that they could be us, Kissing in such liberal wise! Never mind their envious whining; Come, my Lesbia, no repining!
JOHN SMITH.
TO-DAY I strayed in Charing Cross, as wretched as could be, With thinking of my home and friends across the tumbling sea; There was no water in my eyes, but my spirits were depressed, And my heart lay like a sodden, soggy doughnut in my breast. This way and that streamed multitudes, that gayly passed me by; Not one in all the crowd knew me, and not a one knew I. "Oh for a touch of home!" I sighed; "oh for a friendly face! Oh for a hearty hand-clasp in this teeming, desert place!" And so soliloquizing, as a homesick creature will, Incontinent, I wandered down the noisy, bustling hill, And drifted, automatic-like and vaguely, into Lowe's, Where Fortune had in store a panacea for my woes. The register was open, and there dawned upon my sight A name that filled and thrilled me with a cyclone of delight,-- The name that I shall venerate unto my dying day,-- The proud, immortal signature: "John Smith, U. S. A."
Wildly I clutched the register, and brooded on that name; I knew John Smith, yet could not well identify the same. I knew him North, I knew him South, I knew him East and West; I knew him all so well I knew not which I knew the best. His eyes, I recollect, were gray, and black, and brown, and blue; And when he was not bald, his hair was of chameleon hue; Lean, fat, tall, short, rich, poor, grave, gay, a blonde, and a brunette,-- Aha, amid this London fog, John Smith, I see you yet! I see you yet; and yet the sight is all so blurred I seem To see you in composite, or as in a waking dream. Which are you, John? I'd like to know, that I might weave a rhyme Appropriate to your character, your politics, and clime. So tell me, were you "raised" or "reared"? your pedigree confess In some such treacherous ism as "I reckon" or "I guess." Let fall your telltale dialect, that instantly I may Identify my countryman, "John Smith, U. S. A."
It's like as not you air the John that lived aspell ago Deown East, where codfish, beans, 'nd _bona-fide_ schoolma'ams grow; Where the dear old homestead nestles like among the Hampshire hills, And where the robin hops about the cherry-boughs 'nd trills; Where Hubbard squash 'nd huckleberries grow to powerful size, And everything is orthodox from preachers down to pies; Where the red-wing blackbirds swing 'nd call beside the pickril pond, And the crows air cawin' in the pines uv the pasture lot beyond; Where folks complain uv bein' poor, because their money's lent Out West on farms 'nd railroads at the rate uv ten per cent; Where we ust to spark the Baker girls a-comin' home from choir, Or a-settin' namin' apples round the roarin' kitchen fire; Where we had to go to meetin' at least three times a week, And our mothers learnt us good religious Dr. Watts to speak; And where our grandmas sleep their sleep--God rest their souls, I say; And God bless yours, ef you're that John, "John Smith, U. S. A."
Or, mebbe, Col. Smith, yo' are the gentleman I know In the country whar the finest Democrats 'nd hosses grow; Whar the ladies are all beautiful, an' whar the crap of cawn Is utilized for Burbon, and true awters are bawn. You've ren for jedge, and killed yore man, and bet on Proctor Knott; Yore heart is full of chivalry, yore skin is full of shot; And I disremember whar I've met with gentlemen so true As yo' all in Kaintucky, whar blood an' grass are blue, Whar a niggah with a ballot is the signal fo' a fight, Whar the yaller dawg pursues the coon throughout the bammy night, Whar blooms the furtive possum,--pride an' glory of the South! And anty makes a hoe-cake, sah, that melts within yo' mouth, Whar all night long the mockin'-birds are warblin' in the trees, And black-eyed Susans nod and blink at every passing breeze, Whar in a hallowed soil repose the ashes of our Clay,-- H'yar's lookin' at yo', Col. "John Smith, U. S. A."
Or wuz you that John Smith I knew out yonder in the West,-- That part of our Republic I shall always love the best! Wuz you him that went prospectin' in the spring of '69 In the Red Hoss Mountain country for the Gosh-all-Hemlock mine? Oh, how I'd liked to clasped your hand, an' set down by your side, And talked about the good old days beyond the Big Divide,-- Of the rackaboar, the snaix, the bear, the Rocky Mountain goat, Of the conversazzhyony, 'nd of Casey's tabble-dote, And a word of them old pardners that stood by us long ago,-- Three-fingered Hoover, Sorry Tom, and Parson Jim, you know! Old times, old friends, John Smith, would make our hearts beat high again, And we'd see the snow-top mountains like we used to see 'em then; The magpies would go flutterin' like strange sperrits to 'nd fro, And we'd hear the pines a-singin' in the ragged gulch below; And the mountain brook would loiter like upon its windin' way, Ez if it waited for a child to jine it in its play. You see, John Smith, just which you are I cannot well recall; And, really, I am pleased to think you somehow must be all! For when a man sojourns abroad awhile, as I have done, He likes to think of all the folks he left at home as one. And so they are,--for well you know there's nothing in a name; Our Browns, our Joneses, and our Smiths are happily the same,-- All represent the spirit of the land across the sea; All stand for one high purpose in our country of the free. Whether John Smith be from the South, the North, the West, the East, So long as he's American, it mattereth not the least; Whether his crest be badger, bear, palmetto, sword, or pine, His is the glory of the stars that with the stripes combine. Where'er he be, whate'er his lot, he's eager to be known, Not by his mortal name, but by his country's name alone; And so, compatriot, I am proud you wrote your name to-day Upon the register at Lowe's, "John Smith, U. S. A."
ST. MARTIN'S LANE.
ST. MARTIN'S LANE winds up the hill, And trends a devious way; I walk therein amid the din Of busy London day: I walk where wealth and squalor meet, And think upon a time When others trod this saintly sod, And heard St. Martin's chime.
But when those solemn bells invoke The midnight's slumbrous grace, The ghosts of men come back again To haunt that curious place: The ghosts of sages, poets, wits, Come back in goodly train; And all night long, with mirth and song, They walk St. Martin's Lane.
There's Jerrold paired with Thackeray, Maginn and Thomas Moore, And here and there and everywhere Fraserians by the score; And one wee ghost that climbs the hill Is welcomed with a shout,-- No king could be revered as he,-- The _padre_, Father Prout!
They banter up and down the street, And clamor at the door Of yonder inn, which once has been The scene of mirth galore: 'Tis now a lonely, musty shell, Deserted, like to fall; And Echo mocks their ghostly knocks, And iterates their call.
Come back, thou ghost of ruddy host, From Pluto's misty shore; Renew to-night the keen delight Of by-gone years once more; Brew for this merry, motley horde, And serve the steaming cheer; And grant that I may lurk hard by, To see the mirth, and hear.
Ah, me! I dream what things may seem To others childish vain, And yet at night 'tis my delight To walk St. Martin's Lane; For, in the light of other days, I walk with those I love, And all the time St. Martin's chime Makes piteous moan above.
THE SINGING IN GOD'S ACRE.
OUT yonder in the moonlight, wherein God's Acre lies, Go angels walking to and fro, singing their lullabies. Their radiant wings are folded, and their eyes are bended low, As they sing among the beds whereon the flowers delight to grow,--
"Sleep, oh, sleep! The Shepherd guardeth His sheep. Fast speedeth the night away, Soon cometh the glorious day; Sleep, weary ones, while ye may,-- Sleep, oh, sleep!"
The flowers within God's Acre see that fair and wondrous sight, And hear the angels singing to the sleepers through the night; And, lo! throughout the hours of day those gentle flowers prolong The music of the angels in that tender slumber-song,--
"Sleep, oh, sleep! The Shepherd loveth His sheep. He that guardeth His flock the best Hath folded them to His loving breast; So sleep ye now, and take your rest,-- Sleep, oh, sleep!"
From angel and from flower the years have learned that soothing song, And with its heavenly music speed the days and nights along; So through all time, whose flight the Shepherd's vigils glorify, God's Acre slumbereth in the grace of that sweet lullaby,--
"Sleep, oh, sleep! The Shepherd loveth His sheep. Fast speedeth the night away, Soon cometh the glorious day; Sleep, weary ones, while ye may,-- Sleep, oh, sleep!"
DEAR OLD LONDON.
WHEN I was broke in London in the fall of '89, I chanced to spy in Oxford Street this tantalizing sign,-- "A Splendid Horace cheap for Cash!" Of course I had to look Upon the vaunted bargain, and it was a noble book! A finer one I've never seen, nor can I hope to see,-- The first edition, richly bound, and clean as clean can be; And, just to think, for three-pounds-ten I might have had that Pine, When I was broke in London in the fall of '89!
Down at Noseda's, in the Strand, I found, one fateful day, A portrait that I pined for as only maniac may,-- A print of Madame Vestris (she flourished years ago, Was Bartolozzi's daughter and a thoroughbred, you know). A clean and handsome print it was, and cheap at thirty bob,-- That's what I told the salesman, as I choked a rising sob; But I hung around Noseda's as it were a holy shrine, When I was broke in London in the fall of '89.
At Davey's, in Great Russell Street, were autographs galore, And Mr. Davey used to let me con that precious store. Sometimes I read what warriors wrote, sometimes a king's command, But oftener still a poet's verse, writ in a meagre hand. Lamb, Byron, Addison, and Burns, Pope, Johnson, Swift, and Scott,-- It needed but a paltry sum to comprehend the lot; Yet, though Friend Davey marked 'em down, what could I but decline? For I was broke in London in the fall of '89.