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Whipping; to him; was a barbarous rule;

And too hard work for his poor old bones;

Besides; it was painful; he sometimes said:

〃We should make life pleasant; down here below;

The living need charity more than the dead;〃

Said the jolly old pedagogue; long ago。



He lived in the house by the hawthorn lane;

With roses and woodbine over the door;

His rooms were quiet; and neat; and plain;

But a spirit of comfort there held reign;

And made him forget he was old and poor;

〃I need so little;〃 he often said;

〃And my friends and relatives here below

Won't litigate over me when I am dead;〃

Said the jolly old pedagogue; long ago。



But the pleasantest times that he had; of all;

Were the sociable hours he used to pass;

With his chair tipped back to a neighbor's wall;

Making an unceremonious call;

Over a pipe and a friendly glass:

This was the finest picture; he said; 

Of the many he tasted; here below;

〃Who has no cronies; had better be dead!〃

Said the jolly old pedagogue; long ago。



Then the jolly old pedagogue's wrinkled face

Melted all over in sunshiny smiles;

He stirred his glass with an old…school grace;

Chuckled; and sipped; and prattled apace;

Till the house grew merry; from cellar to tiles:

〃I'm a pretty old man;〃 he gently said;

〃I've lingered a long while; here below;

But my heart is fresh; if my youth is fled!〃

Said the jolly old pedagogue; long ago。



He smoked his pipe in the balmy air;

Every night when the sun went down;

While the soft wind played in his silvery hair;

Leaving its tenderest kisses there;

On the jolly old pedagogue's jolly old crown:

And; feeling the kisses; he smiled and said;

'Twas a glorious world; down here below;

〃Why wait for happiness till we are dead?〃

Said the jolly old pedagogue; long ago。



He sat at his door; one midsummer night;

After the sun had sunk in the west;

And the lingering beams of golden light

Made his kindly old face look warm and bright;

While the odorous night…wind whispered 〃Rest!〃

Gently; gently; he bowed his head。 。 。 。

There were angels waiting for him; I know;

He was sure of happiness; living or dead;

This jolly old pedagogue; long ago!



George Arnold '1834…1865'





ON AN INTAGLIO HEAD OF MINERVA



Beneath the warrior's helm; behold

The flowing tresses of the woman!

Minerva; Pallas; what you will …

A winsome creature; Greek or Roman。



Minerva?  No! 'tis some sly minx

In cousin's helmet masquerading;

If not … then Wisdom was a dame

For sonnets and for serenading!



I thought the goddess cold; austere;

Not made for love's despairs and blisses:

Did Pallas wear her hair like that?

Was Wisdom's mouth so shaped for kisses?



The Nightingale should be her bird;

And not the Owl; big…eyed and solemn:

How very fresh she looks; and yet

She's older far than Trajan's Column!



The magic hand that carved this face;

And set this vine…work round it running;

Perhaps ere mighty Phidias wrought;

Had lost its subtle skill and cunning。



Who was he?  Was he glad or sad;

Who knew to carve in such a fashion?

Perchance he graved the dainty head

For some brown girl that scorned his passion。



Perchance; in some still garden…place;

Where neither fount nor tree to…day is;

He flung the jewel at the feet

Of Phryne; or perhaps 'twas Lais。



But he is dust; we may not know

His happy or unhappy story:

Nameless; and dead these centuries;

His work outlives him; … there's his glory!



Both man and jewel lay in earth

Beneath a lava…buried city;

The countless summers came and went;

With neither haste; nor hate; nor pity。



Years blotted out the man; but left

The jewel fresh as any blossom;

Till some Visconti dug it up; …

To rise and fall on Mabel's bosom!



O nameless brother! see how Time

Your gracious handiwork has guarded:

See how your loving; patient art

Has come; at last; to be rewarded。



Who would not suffer slights of men;

And pangs of hopeless passion also;

To have his carven agate…stone

On such a bosom rise and fall so!



Thomas Bailey Aldrich '1837…1907'





THALIA

A Middle…aged Lyrical Poet Is supposed To Be Taking

Final Leave Of The Muse Of Comedy。  She Has Brought

Him His Hat And Gloves; And Is Abstractedly Picking

A Thread Of Gold Hair From His Coat Sleeve As He

Begins To Speak:



I say it under the rose …

 oh; thanks! … yes; under the laurel;

We part lovers; not foes;

 we are not going to quarrel。



We have too long been friends

 on foot and in gilded coaches;

Now that the whole thing ends;

 to spoil our kiss with reproaches。



I leave you; my soul is wrung;

 I pause; look back from the portal …

Ah; I no more am young;

 and you; child; you are immortal!



Mine is the glacier's way;

 yours is the blossom's weather …

When were December and May

 known to be happy together?



Before my kisses grow tame;

 before my moodiness grieve you;

While yet my heart is flame;

 and I all lover; I leave you。



So; in the coming time;

 when you count the rich years over;

Think of me in my prime;

 and not as a white…haired lover;



Fretful; pierced with regret;

 the wraith of a dead Desire

Thrumming a cracked spinet

 by a slowly dying fire。



When; at last; I am cold …

 years hence; if the gods so will it …

Say; 〃He was true as gold;〃

 and wear a rose in your fillet!



Others; tender as I;

 will come and sue for caresses;

Woo you; win you; and die …

 mind you; a rose in your tresses!



Some Melpomene woo;

 some hold Clio the nearest;

You; sweet Comedy … you

 were ever sweetest and dearest!



Nay; it is time to go。

 When writing your tragic sister

Say to that child of woe

 how sorry I was I missed her。



Really; I cannot stay;

 though 〃parting is such sweet sorrow〃 。 。 。

Perhaps I will; on my way

 down…town; look in to…morrow!



Thomas Bailey Aldrich '1837…1907'





PAN IN WALL STREET

A。 D。 1867



Just where the Treasury's marble front

Looks over Wall Street's mingled nations;

Where Jews and Gentiles most are wont

To throng for trade and last quotations;

Where; hour by hour; the rates of gold

Outrival; in the ears of people;

The quarter…chimes; serenely tolled

From Trinity's undaunted steeple; …



Even there I heard a strange; wild strain

Sound high above the modern clamor;

Above the cries of greed and gain;

The curbstone war; the auction's hammer;

And swift; on Music's misty ways;

It led; from all this strife for millions;

To ancient; sweet…to…nothing days

Among the kirtle…robed Sicilians。



And as it stilled the multitude;

And yet more joyous rose; and shriller;

I saw the minstrel; where he stood

At ease against a Doric pillar:

One hand a droning organ played;

The other held a Pan's…pipe (fashioned

Like those of old) to lips that made

The reeds give out that strain impassioned。



'Twas Pan himself had wandered here

A…strolling through this sordid city;

And piping to the civic ear

The prelude of some pastoral ditty!

The demigod had crossed the seas; …

From haunts of shepherd; nymph; and satyr;

And Syracusan times; … to these

Far shores and twenty centuries later。



A ragged cap was on his head;

But … hidden thus … there was no doubting

That; all with crispy locks o'erspread;

His gnarled horns were somewhere sprouting;

His club…feet; cased in rusty shoes;

Were crossed; as on some frieze you see them;

And trousers; patched of divers hues;

Concealed his crooked shanks beneath them。



He filled the quivering reeds with sound;

And o'er his mouth their changes shifted;

And with his goat's…eyes looked around

Where'er the passing current drifted;

And soon; as on Trinacrian hills

The nymphs and herdsmen ran to hear him;

Even now the tradesmen from their tills;

With clerks and porters; crowded near him。



The bulls and bears together drew

From Jauncey Court and New Street Alley;

As erst; if pastorals be true;

Came beasts from every wooded valley;

The random passers stayed to list; …

A boxer Aegon; rough and merry;

A Broadway Daphnis; on his tryst 

With Nais at the Brooklyn Ferry。



A one…eyed Cyclops halted long

In tattered cloak of army pattern;

And Galatea joined the throng; …

A blowsy; apple…vending slattern;

While old Silenus staggered out

From some new…fangled lunch…house handy;

And bade the piper; with a shout;

To strike up Yankee Doodle Dandy!



A newsboy and a peanut…girl

Like little Fauns began to caper:

His hair was all in tangled curl;

Her tawny legs were bare and taper;

And still the gathering larger grew;

And gave its pence and crowded nigher;

While aye the shepherd…minstrel blew

His pipe; and struck the gamut higher。



O heart of Nature; beating still

With throbs her vernal passion taught her; …

Even here; as on the vine…clad hill;

Or by the Arethusan water!

New forms may fold the speech; new lands

Arise within these ocean…portals;

But Music waves eternal wands; …

Enchantress of the souls of mortals!



So thought I; … but among us trod

A man in blue; with legal baton;

And scoffed the vagrant demigod;

And pushed him from the step I sat on。

Doubting I mused upon the cry;

〃Great Pan is dead!〃 … and all the people

Went on their ways: … and clear and high

The quarter sounded from the steeple。



Edmund Clarence Stedman '1833…1908'





UPON LESBIA … ARGUING



My Lesbia; I will not deny;

Bewitches me completely;

She has the usual beaming eye;

And smiles upon me sweetly:

But she has an unseemly way

Of contradicting what I say。



And; though I am her closest friend;

And find her fascinating;

I cannot cordially commend

Her method of debating:

Her logic; though she is divine;

Is singularly feminine。



Her reasoning is full of tricks;

And butterfly suggestions;

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