To the means only, not the righteous | Her natural home-born right to Freedom ends; give, Nor fail to weigh the scruples and the | And leave her foe his robber-right, land, From bar, press, pulpit, cast them everywhere, By dint of fasting, if you fail by prayer. And in their place bring men of antique mould, Like the grave fathers of your Age of Gold, Statesmen like those who sought the primal fount Of righteous law, the Sermon on the Mount; Lawyers who prize, like Quincy, (to our day Still spared, Heaven bless him!) honor more than pay, And Christian jurists, starry-pure, like The faith of Wesley to our Western shore, And o'er its slave-ships shook the bolts of God! So shall your power, with a wise prudence used, Strong but forbearing, firm but not abused, In kindly keeping with the good of all, The nobler maxims of the past recall, live. to "So, wheresoe'er our destiny sends forth Its widening circles to the South or North, Where'er our banner flaunts beneath the stars Its mimic splendors and its cloudlike bars, There shall Free Labor's hardy children stand The equal sovereigns of a slaveless land. And when at last the hunted bison tires, And dies o'ertaken by the squatter's fires; And westward, wave on wave, the living flood Breaks on the snow-line of majestic Hood; And lonely Shasta listening hears the tread Of Europe's fair-haired children, Hesper-led; And, gazing downward through his hoar-locks, sees The tawny Asian climb his giant knees, The Eastern sea shall hush his waves to hear Pacific's surf-beat answer Freedom's cheer, And one long rolling fire of triumph run Between the sunrise and the sunset gun!" SUMMER BY THE LAKESIDE. 183 My task is done. The Showman and | Some homely idyl of my native North, Some summer pastoral of her inland his show, This western wind hath Lethean powers, | Are silent, save the cricket's wail, Yon noonday cloud nepenthe showers, And low response of leaf and wave. Fair scenes! whereto the Day and Night Shall hide behind yon rocky spines, His arrows on the mountain pines, Farewell! around this smiling bay Gay-hearted Health, and Life in bloom, With lighter steps than mine, may stray In radiant summers yet to come. But none shall more regretful leave These waters and these hills than I: Or, distant, fonder dream how eve Or dawn is painting wave and sky; How rising moons shine sad and mild On wooded isle and silvering bay, Or setting suns beyond the piled And purple mountains lead the day; Nor laughing girl, nor bearding boy, The charmed repose to suffering dear. Still waits kind Nature to impart One blessing from us others fall; O, watched by Silence and the Night, Lake of the Northland! keep thy dower THE HERMIT OF THE THEBAID. 185 THE HERMIT OF THE THEBAID. Nor corn, nor vines." The hermit said: "With God I dwell. "Alone with Him in this great calm, The child gazed round him. Is "Does Here only? where the desert's rim 3 green with corn, at morn and eve, We pray to Him. "My brother tills beside the Nile His little field: beneath the leaves "And when the millet's ripe heads fall, "And when to share our evening meal, She calls the stranger at the door, She says God fills the hands that deal Food to the poor." Adown the hermit's wasted cheeks Glistened the flow of human tears; "Dear Lord!" he said, "thy angel speaks, Thy servant hears." Within his arms the child he took, men; And all his pilgrim feet forsook Returned again. The palmy shadows cool and long, The eyes that smiled through lavish locks, Home's cradle-hymn and harvest-song, And bleat of flocks. "O child!" he said, "thou teachest me He rose from off the desert sand, And, leaning on his staff of thorn, Went, with the young child, hand-inhand, Like night with morn. The deathless singer and the flowers He sang of live together. Wild heather-bells and Robert Burns! The gray sky wears again its gold And manhood's noonday shadows hold The dews that washed the dust and soil From off the wings of pleasure, The sky, that flecked the ground of toil With golden threads of leisure. I call to mind the summer day, I hear the blackbird in the corn, How oft that day, with fond delay, I sought the maple's shadow, And sang with Burns the hours away, Forgetful of the meadow ! Bees hummed, birds twittered, overhead I heard the squirrels leaping, I watched him while in sportive mood Sweet day, sweet songs! hours The golden Grew brighter for that singing, From brook and bird and meadow flowers A dearer welcome bringing. New light on home-seen Nature beamed, |