THE DREAM OF PIO NONO. 21" And momently the mortar's iron throat From which, at times, quivered a living hand, In frenzy; and his fair young daughter wept Clove the thick sulphurous air, and man and maid Then spake the Galilean: Look now on thine! Hear'st thou the angels sing I, Peter, fisherman of Galilee, In the dear Master's name, and for the love Wide as the difference between death and life, Thereat the pontiff woke, Trembling, and muttering o'er his fearful dream. "What means he?" cried the Bourbon. ing more Than that your majesty hath all too well "Noth Catered for your poor guests, and that, in sooth, TAULER. TAULER, the preacher, walked, one autumn day, Without the walls of Strasburg, by the Rhine, Pondering the solemn Miracle of Life; As one who, wandering in a starless night, Feels, momently, the jar of unseen waves, And hears the thunder of an unknown sea, Breaking along an unimagined shore. And as he walked he prayed. Even the same Old prayer with which, for half a score of years, Morning, and noon, and evening, lip and heart Had groaned: " Have pity upon me, Lord! Thou seest, while teaching others, I am blind. Send me a man who can direct my steps!" Then, as he mused, he heard along his path "Peace be unto thee, father!" Tauler said; "God give thee a good day!" The old man raised Slowly his calm blue eyes. "I thank thee, son; But all my days are good, and none are ill.” Wondering thereat, the preacher spake again; * God give thee happy life.” The old man smiled "I never am unhappy." Tauler laid His hand upon the stranger's coarse gray sleeve: “Tell me, O father, what thy strange words mean. Surely man's days are evil, and his life Sad as the grave it leads to." it leads to." "Nay, my son, Our times are in God's hands, and all our days TAULER. Are as our needs: for shadow as for sun, Our thanks are due, since that is best which is ; And for the happiness of which I spake, And calm trust in the holy Trinity 219 Of Knowledge, Goodness, and Almighty Power." Silently wondering, for a little space, Stood the great preacher; then he spake as one Who, suddenly grappling with a haunting thought Which long has followed, whispering through the dark Strange terrors, drags it, shrieking, into light: "What if God's will consign thee hence to Hell ?” "Then," said the stranger, cheerily, "be it so He goes; and better fire-walled Hell with Him Tears sprang in Tauler's eyes. in Tauler's eyes. A sudden light, Like the first ray which fell on chaos, clove Apart the shadow wherein he had walked Darkly at noon. And, as the strange old man Went his slow way, until his silver hair Set like the white moon where the hills of vine Slope to the Rhine, he bowed his head and said: My prayer is answered. God hath sent the man Long sought, to teach me, by his simple trust, Wisdom the weary schoolmen never knew." So, entering with a changed and cheerful step The city gates, he saw, far down the street, In the noon-brightness the great Minster's tower, LINES SUGGESTED BY READING A STATE PAPER, WHEREIN THE HIGHER LAW IS INVOKED TO SUSTAIN THE LOWER ONE. A PIOUS magistrate! sound his praise throughout The wondering churches. Who shall henceforth doubt That the long-wished millennium draweth nigh? Sin in high places has become devout, Tithes mint, goes painful-faced, and prays its lie The pirate, watching from his bloody deck THE VOICES. 221 While prayers are said, brows crossed, and beads are told The robber, kneeling where the wayside cross Of midnight Murder, while her hounds of hell Of Hope against three million souls of menBrothers, God's children, Christ's redeemed-and then, With uprolled eyeballs and on bended knee, THE VOICES. "WHY urge the long, unequal fight, "Give o'er the thankless task; forsake |