Day doth come to us as gay Some fair buds may outlive blightings, William Barnes. The Rev. W. Barnes, B.D., is a native of Rushpay, Dorset. He began life as a schoolmaster, and became rector of Winterborne Came, Dorchester, 1862. Mr. Barnes is author of three volumes of Poems of Rural Life, in the Dorsetshire dialect. (The selections here reprinted are given in ordinary English.) CLEAR AND COOL. (From "The Water-Babies.") CLEAR and cool, clear and cool, Play by me, bathe in me, mother and child ! Dank and foul, dank and foul, Who dare sport with the sin-defiled? Shrink from me, turn from me, mother and child! Strong and free, strong and free; Like a soul that has sinned and is pardoned again. Undefiled, for the undefiled; Play by me, bathe in me, mother and child! Charles Kingsley: 1819-1875. (See page 32.) THE STREAMLET. I SAW a little streamlet flow A thread of silver, soft and slow, The valley smiled in living green; But not alone to plant and bird It blessed the labour of the poor. 1 limpid-clear. 2 meandering-winding about: from Meander, the name a river in Phrygia, noted for its tortuous course. 3 cotter-cottager. And would that I could thus be found, Like that pure stream, with tranquil breast, Mary Anne Stodart. An American poetess and writer on education, particularly as regards the training of girls. Author of Every-day Duties, Hints on Reading, and Female Writers. THE FOUNTAIN. INTO the sunshine, Into the moonlight, When the winds blow! Into the starlight, Rushing in spray, Happy by day! Ever in motion, Blithesome and cheery, Never aweary; Glad of all weathers, Still seeming best, Full of a nature Ceaseless aspiring, Ceaseless content, Darkness or sunshine Glorious fountain! Let my heart be Fresh, changeful, constant, Upward like thee! James Russell Lowell: born, 1819. (See page 22.) SEA-SIDE THOUGHTS. BEAUTIFUL, sublime, and glorious, Over time itself victorious, Emblem of Eternity! Sun and moon and stars shine o'er thee, Yet attempt not to explore thee In thy soundless depths below. Whether morning splendours steep thee Earth-her valleys and her mountains, Thy unfathomable fountains Scoff his search and scorn his sway. Such art thou, stupendous Ocean! Can we think, without emotion, Bernard Barton: 1784-1849. (See page 54.) OCEAN-VOICES. THE wild waves madly dash and roar, Up through the cavernous rocks amain,1 With short, hoarse growl, they plunge and leap, Like an arm'd host, again and again Battering some castellated steep.2 Great pulses of the ocean heart, Ever, in still increasing force, Earnest as cries of love or hate, I sit alone on the glowing sand, Fill'd with the music of your speech, And only half may understand The wondrous love that ye would teach. The sea-weed and the shells are wise, And versed in your broad Sanscrit tongue ; 3 The ocean and the shore are one; The rocks and trees that hang above, The birds and insects in the sun, Are link'd in one strong tie of love. 1 amain-violently, furiously. 2 castellated steep-a hill fortified as by a castle. 3 Sanscrit tongue-ancient language: sometimes held to be the oldest of all languages. (Sanscrit was the language of Northern India in remote times, and many other languages are derived from or allied to it.) |