They must upward still, and onward, who would keep abreast of Truth; Lo, before us gleam her camp-fires! we ourselves must Pilgrims be. Launch our Mayflower, and steer boldly through the desperate winter sea, Nor attempt the Future's portal with the Past's bloodrusted key. TO W. L. GARRISON 90 "Some time afterward, it was reported to me by the city officers that they had ferreted out the paper and its editor; that his office was an obscure hole, his only visible auxiliary a negro boy, and his supporters a few very insignificant persons of all colors."Letter of H. G. Otis. In a small chamber, friendless and unseen, man; The place was dark, unfurnitured, and mean; — Help came but slowly; surely no man yet Such earnest natures are the fiery pith, 5 The compact nucleus, round which systems grow; 10 Mass after mass becomes inspired therewith, And whirls impregnate with the central glow. 6. Archimedes, a great philosopher of antiquity, used to say, "Only give me a place to stand on, and I will move the world with my lever." O Truth! O Freedom! how are ye still born 15 Through which the splendors of the New Day burst! What shall one monk, scarce known beyond his cell, Front Rome's far-reaching bolts, and scorn her frown? Brave Luther answered YES; that thunder's swell Rocked Europe, and discharmed the triple crown. 20 Whatever can be known of earth we know, Sneered Europe's wise men, in their snail-shells curled; No! said one man in Genoa, and that No Who is it will not dare himself to trust ? Who is it hath not strength to stand alone? Who is it thwarts and bilks the inward MUST? He and his works, like sand, from earth are blown. Men of a thousand shifts and wiles, look here! Shall we not heed the lesson taught of old, In our own single manhood to be bold, 335 We stride the river daily at its spring, Nor, in our childish thoughtlessness, foresee, What myriad vassal streams shall tribute bring, How like an equal it shall greet the sea. O small beginnings, ye are great and strong, WENDELL PHILLIPS He stood upon the world's broad threshold; wide He saw God stand upon the weaker side, Many there were who made great haste and sold He scorned their gifts of fame, and power, and gold, Through all the widespread veins of endless good. 10 POEMS HAVING A SPECIAL RELATION TO THE VISION OF SIR LAUNFAL. GROUP B "Indeed, there could scarcely have been a better nesting place for one who was all his life long to love the animation of nature and to portray in verse and prose its homely and friendly aspects rather than its large, solemn, and expansive scenes. From the upper windows of the house that tower of enchantment for many a child - he could see & long curve of the Charles, the wide marshes beyond the river, and the fields which lay between Elmwood and the village of Cambridge. Within the place itself were the rosebushes and asters, the heavy headed goat's-beard, the lilac bushes and syringas which bordered the path from the door to what his father, in New England phrase, called the avenue, and which later became formally Elmwood Avenue. And in the trees and bushes sang the birds that were to be his companions through life. Over the buttercups whistled the orioles; and bobolinks, catbirds, linnets, and robins were to teach him notes, о о The Aladdin's trap-door of the past to lift. A spring morning which witnessed the sudden miracle of regeneration; an hour of summer, when he sat dappled with sunshine, in a cherry-tree; a day in autumn, when the falling leaves moved as an accompaniment to his thought; the creaking of the snow beneath his feet, when the familiar world was transformed as in a vision to a polar solitude: Instant the candid chambers of my brain * See The Study of The Vision of Sir Launfal. D. 94. BEAVER BROOK HUSHED with broad sunlight lies the hill, Warm noon brims full the valley's cup, Climbing the loose-piled wall that hems Beneath a bony buttonwood The mill's red door lets forth the din; The whitened miller, dust-imbued, 18 Flits past the square of dark within. No mountain torrent's strength is here; Heaps its small pitcher to the ear, And gently waits the miller's will. 20 Swift slips Undine along the race Unheard, and then, with flashing bound, 18. Beaver Brook was within walking distance of the poet's home. See The Nightingale in the Study and Mr. Hosea Biglow to the Editor of the Atlantic Monthly. |