Chapter 4

His lamp blew out, but his eyes burned bright. Simon Legree stepped down all night-- DOWN, DOWN TO THE DEVIL. Simon Legree he reached the place, He saw one half of the human race, He saw the Devil on a wide green throne, Gnawing the meat from a big ham-bone, And he said to Mister Devil:

"I see that you have much to eat-- A red ham-bone is surely sweet. I see that you have lion's feet; I see your frame is fat and fine, I see you drink your poison wine-- Blood and burning turpentine."

And the Devil said to Simon Legree: "I like your style, so wicked and free. Come sit and share my throne with me, And let us bark and revel." And there they sit and gnash their teeth, And each one wears a hop-vine wreath. They are matching pennies and shooting craps, They are playing poker and taking naps. And old Legree is fat and fine: He eats the fire, he drinks the wine-- Blood and burning turpentine-- DOWN, DOWN WITH THE DEVIL; DOWN, DOWN WITH THE DEVIL; DOWN, DOWN WITH THE DEVIL.

II. John Brown

(To be sung by a leader and chorus, the leader singing the body of the poem, while the chorus interrupts with the question.)

I've been to Palestine. WHAT DID YOU SEE IN PALESTINE? I saw the ark of Noah-- It was made of pitch and pine. I saw old Father Noah Asleep beneath his vine. I saw Shem, Ham and Japhet Standing in a line. I saw the tower of Babel In the gorgeous sunrise shine-- By a weeping willow tree Beside the Dead Sea.

I've been to Palestine. WHAT DID YOU SEE IN PALESTINE? I saw abominations And Gadarene swine. I saw the sinful Canaanites Upon the shewbread dine, And spoil the temple vessels And drink the temple wine. I saw Lot's wife, a pillar of salt Standing in the brine-- By a weeping willow tree Beside the Dead Sea.

I've been to Palestine. WHAT DID YOU SEE IN PALESTINE? Cedars on Mount Lebanon, Gold in Ophir's mine, And a wicked generation Seeking for a sign And Baal's howling worshippers Their god with leaves entwine. And ... I saw the war-horse ramping And shake his forelock fine-- By a weeping willow tree Beside the Dead Sea.

I've been to Palestine. WHAT DID YOU SEE IN PALESTINE? Old John Brown. Old John Brown. I saw his gracious wife Dressed in a homespun gown. I saw his seven sons Before his feet bow down. And he marched with his seven sons, His wagons and goods and guns, To his campfire by the sea, By the waves of Galilee.

I've been to Palestine. WHAT DID YOU SEE IN PALESTINE? I saw the harp and psalt'ry Played for Old John Brown. I heard the ram's horn blow, Blow for Old John Brown. I saw the Bulls of Bashan-- They cheered for Old John Brown. I saw the big Behemoth-- He cheered for Old John Brown. I saw the big Leviathan-- He cheered for Old John Brown. I saw the Angel Gabriel Great power to him assign. I saw him fight the Canaanites And set God's Israel free. I saw him when the war was done In his rustic chair recline-- By his campfire by the sea, By the waves of Galilee.

I've been to Palestine. WHAT DID YOU SEE IN PALESTINE? Old John Brown. Old John Brown. And there he sits To judge the world. His hunting-dogs At his feet are curled. His eyes half-closed, But John Brown sees The ends of the earth, The Day of Doom. And his shot-gun lies Across his knees-- Old John Brown, Old John Brown.

III. King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba

(A Poem Game.)

"And when the Queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, ... she came to prove him with hard questions."

Men's Leader: The Queen of Sheba came to see King Solomon.

I was King Solomon, I was King Solomon, I was King Solomon.

Women's Leader: I was the Queen, I was the Queen, I was the Queen.

Both Leaders: We will be king and queen,

Reigning on mountains green, Happy and free For ten thousand years.

Both Leaders: King Solomon he had four hundred oxen.

Congregation: We were the oxen.

Both Leaders: You shall feel goads no more.

Walk dreadful roads no more, Free from your loads For ten thousand years.

Both Leaders: King Solomon he had four hundred sweethearts.

Congregation: We were the sweethearts.

Both Leaders: You shall dance round again, You shall dance round again, Cymbals shall sound again, Cymbals shall sound again,

Wildflowers be found For ten thousand years, Wildflowers be found For ten thousand years.

Both Leaders: And every sweetheart had four hundred swans.

Congregation: We were the swans.

Both Leaders: You shall spread wings again, You shall spread wings again,

Fly in soft rings again, Fly in soft rings again, Swim by cool springs For ten thousand years, Swim by cool springs, For ten thousand years.

Men's Leader: King Solomon, King Solomon.

Women's Leader: The Queen of Sheba asked him like a lady,

Bowing most politely: "What makes the roses bloom Over the mossy tomb, Driving away the gloom Ten thousand years?"

Men's Leader: King Solomon made answer to the lady,

Bowing most politely: "They bloom forever thinking of your beauty, Your step so queenly and your eyes so lovely. These keep the roses fair, Young and without a care, Making so sweet the air, Ten thousand years."

Both Leaders: King Solomon he had four hundred sons.

Congregation: We were the sons.

Both Leaders: Crowned by the throngs again,

You shall make songs again, Singing along For ten thousand years.

Both Leaders: He gave each son four hundred prancing ponies.

Congregation: We were the ponies.

Both Leaders: You shall eat hay again,

In forests play again, Rampage and neigh For ten thousand years.

Men's Leader: King Solomon he asked the Queen of Sheba,

Bowing most politely: "What makes the oak-tree grow Hardy in sun and snow, Never by wind brought low Ten thousand years?"

Women's Leader: The Queen of Sheba answered like a lady,

Bowing most politely: "It blooms forever thinking of your wisdom, Your brave heart and the way you rule your kingdom. These keep the oak secure, Weaving its leafy lure, Dreaming by fountains pure Ten thousand years."

Both Leaders: The Queen of Sheba had four hundred sailors.

Congregation: We were the sailors.

Both Leaders: You shall bring spice and ore

Over the ocean's floor, Shipmates once more, For ten thousand years.

Women's Leader: The Queen of Sheba asked him like a lady,

Bowing most politely: "Why is the sea so deep, What secret does it keep While tides a-roaring leap Ten thousand years?"

Men's Leader: King Solomon made answer to the lady,

Bowing most politely: "My love for you is like the stormy ocean-- Too deep to understand, Bending to your command, Bringing your ships to land Ten thousand years." King Solomon, King Solomon.

Both Leaders: King Solomon he had four hundred chieftains.

Congregation: We were the chieftains.

Both Leaders: You shall be proud again,

Dazzle the crowd again, Laughing aloud For ten thousand years.

Both Leaders: King Solomon he had four hundred shepherds.

Congregation: We were the shepherds.

Both Leaders: You shall have torches bright, Watching the folds by night, Guarding the lambs aright, Ten thousand years.

Men's Leader: King Solomon he asked the Queen of Sheba,

Bowing most politely: "Why are the stars so high, There in the velvet sky, Rolling in rivers by, Ten thousand years?"

Women's Leader: The Queen of Sheba answered like a lady,

Bowing most politely: "They're singing of your kingdom to the angels, They guide your chariot with their lamps and candles, Therefore they burn so far-- So you can drive your car Up where the prophets are, Ten thousand years."

Men's Leader: King Solomon, King Solomon.

Both Leaders: King Solomon he kept the Sabbath holy.

And spoke with tongues in prophet words so mighty

We stamped and whirled and wept and shouted:--

Congregation Rises and Joins the Song: .... "Glory." We were his people.

Both Leaders: You shall be wild and gay, Green trees shall deck your way,

Sunday be every day, Ten thousand years.

King Solomon, King Solomon.

How Samson Bore Away the Gates of Gaza

(A Negro Sermon.)

Once, in a night as black as ink, She drove him out when he would not drink. Round the house there were men in wait Asleep in rows by the Gaza gate. But the Holy Spirit was in this man. Like a gentle wind he crept and ran. ("It is midnight," said the big town clock.)

He lifted the gates up, post and lock. The hole in the wall was high and wide When he bore away old Gaza's pride Into the deep of the night:-- The bold Jack Johnson Israelite,-- Samson-- The Judge, The Nazarite.

The air was black, like the smoke of a dragon. Samson's heart was as big as a wagon. He sang like a shining golden fountain. He sweated up to the top of the mountain. He threw down the gates with a noise like judgment. And the quails all ran with the big arousement.

But he wept--"I must not love tough queens, And spend on them my hard earned means. I told that girl I would drink no more. Therefore she drove me from her door. Oh sorrow! Sorrow! I cannot hide. Oh Lord look down from your chariot side. You made me Judge, and I am not wise. I am weak as a sheep for all my size."

Let Samson Be coming Into your mind.

The moon shone out, the stars were gay. He saw the foxes run and play. He rent his garments, he rolled around In deep repentance on the ground.

Then he felt a honey in his soul. Grace abounding made him whole. Then he saw the Lord in a chariot blue. The gorgeous stallions whinnied and flew. The iron wheels hummed an old hymn-tune And crunched in thunder over the moon. And Samson shouted to the sky: "My Lord, my Lord is riding high."

Like a steed, he pawed the gates with his hoof. He rattled the gates like rocks on the roof, And danced in the night On the mountain-top, Danced in the deep of the night: The Judge, the holy Nazarite, Whom ropes and chains could never bind.

Let Samson Be coming Into your mind.

Whirling his arms, like a top he sped. His long black hair flew round his head Like an outstretched net of silky cord, Like a wheel of the chariot of the Lord.

Let Samson Be coming Into your mind.

Samson saw the sun anew. He left the gates in the grass and dew. He went to a county-seat a-nigh. Found a harlot proud and high: Philistine that no man could tame-- Delilah was her lady-name. Oh sorrow, Sorrow, She was too wise. She cut off his hair, She put out his eyes.

Let Samson Be coming Into your mind.

| The following pages contain advertisements | | of other books by the same author | | which appeared in the 1918 copy. | ----------------------------------------------

By the Same Author

A Handy Guide for Beggars New Edition. Cloth, 12mo, $1.25

"The Handy Guide for Beggars" is an introduction to all Vachel Lindsay's work. It gives his first adventures afoot. He walked through Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Kentucky, in the spring of 1906. He walked through New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and on to Hiram, Ohio, in the spring of 1908. He carried on these trips his poems: "The Tree of Laughing Bells", "The Heroes of Time", etc. He recited them in exchange for food and lodging. He left copies for those who appeared interested. The book is a record of these journeys, and of many pleasing discoveries about American Democracy.

This book serves to introduce the next, "Adventures While Preaching the Gospel of Beauty". In the spring and summer of 1912, Mr. Lindsay walked from Springfield, Illinois, west to Colorado, and into New Mexico. He was much more experienced in the road. He carried "Rhymes to Be Traded for Bread", "The Village Improvement Parade", etc. As is indicated in the title, he wrestled with a theory of American aesthetics. "Christmas, 1915", the third book in the series, appeared, applying the "Gospel of Beauty to the Photoplay". The ideas of Art and Democracy that develop in the first two books are used as the basic principles in "The Art of the Moving Picture". Those who desire a close view of the Lindsay idea will do well to read the three works in the order named. Further particulars in the pages following.

The Congo and Other Poems With a preface by Harriet Monroe, Editor of the 'Poetry Magazine'. Cloth, 12mo, $1.25; leather, $1.60

In the readings which Vachel Lindsay has given for colleges, universities, etc., throughout the country, he has won the approbation of the critics and of his audiences in general for the new verse-form which he is employing, as well as the manner of his chanting and singing, which is peculiarly his own. He carries in memory all the poems in his books, and recites the program made out for him; the wonderful effect of sound produced by his lines, their relation to the idea which the author seeks to convey, and their marvelous lyrical quality are quite beyond the ordinary, and suggest new possibilities and new meanings in poetry. It is his main object to give his already established friends a deeper sense of the musical intention of his pieces.

The book contains the much discussed "War Poem", "Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight"; it contains among its familiar pieces: "The Santa Fe Trail", "The Firemen's Ball", "The Dirge for a Righteous Kitten", "The Griffin's Egg", "The Spice Tree", "Blanche Sweet", "Mary Pickford", "The Soul of the City", etc.

Mr. Lindsay received the Levinson Prize for the best poem contributed to 'Poetry', a magazine of verse, (Chicago) for 1915.

"We do not know a young man of any more promise than Mr. Vachel Lindsay for the task which he seems to have set himself."--'The Dial'.

General William Booth Enters Into Heaven and Other Poems Price, $1.25; leather, $1.60

This book contains among other verses: "On Reading Omar Khayyam during an Anti-Saloon Campaign in Illinois"; "The Wizard Wind"; "The Eagle Forgotten", a Memorial to John P. Altgeld; "The Knight in Disguise", a Memorial to O. Henry; "The Rose and the Lotus"; "Michaelangelo"; "Titian"; "What the Hyena Said"; "What Grandpa Mouse Said"; "A Net to Snare the Moonlight"; "Springfield Magical"; "The Proud Farmer"; "The Illinois Village"; "The Building of Springfield".

Comments on the Title Poem:

"This poem, at once so glorious, so touching and poignant in its conception and expression ... is perhaps the most remarkable poem of a decade--one that defies imitation."--'Review of Reviews'.

"A sweeping and penetrating vision that works with a naive charm.... No American poet of to-day is more a people's poet."--'Boston Transcript'.

"One could hardly overpraise 'General Booth'."--'New York Times'.

"Something new in verse, spontaneous, passionate, unmindful of conventions in form and theme."--'The Living Age'.

Adventures While Preaching the Gospel of Beauty Price, $1.00

This is a series of happening afoot while reciting at back-doors in the west, and includes some experiences while harvesting in Kansas. It includes several proclamations which apply the Gospel of Beauty to agricultural conditions. There are, among other rhymed interludes: "The Shield of Faith", "The Flute of the Lonely", "The Rose of Midnight", "Kansas", "The Kallyope Yell".

Something to Read

Vachel Lindsay took a walk from his home in Springfield, Ill., over the prairies to New Mexico. He was in Kansas in wheat-harvest time and he worked as a farmhand, and he tells all about that. He tells about his walks and the people he met in a little book, "Adventures While Preaching the Gospel of Beauty".

For the conditions of his tramps were that he should keep away from cities, money, baggage, and pay his way by reciting his own poems. And he did it. People liked his pieces, and tramp farmhands with rough necks and rougher hands left off singing smutty limericks and took to "Atalanta in Calydon" apparently because they preferred it. Of motor cars, which gave him a lift, he says: "I still maintain that the auto is a carnal institution, to be shunned by the truly spiritual, but there are times when I, for one, get tired of being spiritual." His story of the "Five Little Children Eating Mush" (that was one night in Colorado, and he recited to them while they ate supper) has more beauty and tenderness and jolly tears than all the expensive sob stuff theatrical managers ever dreamed of. Mr. Lindsay doesn't need to write verse to be a poet. His prose is poetry--poetry straight from the soil, of America that is, and of a nobler America that is to be. You cannot afford--both for your entertainment and for the REAL IDEA that this young man has (of which we have said nothing)--to miss this book.--Editorial from 'Collier's Weekly'.

The Art of the Moving Picture Price, $1.25

An effort to apply the Gospel of Beauty to a new art.

The first section has an outline which is proposed as a basis for photoplay criticism in America; chapters on: "The Photoplay of Action", "The Intimate Photoplay", "The Picture of Fairy Splendor", "The Picture of Crowd Splendor", "The Picture of Patriotic Splendor", "The Picture of Religious Splendor", "Sculpture in Motion", "Painting in Motion", "Furniture", "Trappings and Inventions in Motion", "Architecture in Motion", "Thirty Differences between the Photoplays and the Stage", "Hieroglyphics". The second section is avowedly more discursive, being more personal speculations and afterthoughts, not brought forward so dogmatically; chapters on: "The Orchestra Conversation and the Censorship", "The Substitute for the Saloon", "California and America", "Progress and Endowment", "Architects as Crusaders", "On Coming Forth by Day", "The Prophet Wizard", "The Acceptable Year of the Lord".

For Late Reviews of Mr. Lindsay and his contemporaries read:

'The New Republic': Articles by Randolph S. Bourne, December 5, 1914, on the "Adventures While Preaching"; and Francis Hackett, December 25, 1915, on "The Art of the Moving Picture".

'The Dial': Unsigned article by Lucien Carey, October 16, 1914, on "The Congo", etc.

'The Yale Review': Article by H. M. Luquiens, July, 1916, on "The Art of the Moving Picture".

General Articles on the Poetry Situation

'The Century Magazine': "America's Golden Age in Poetry", March, 1916.