Imatges de pàgina
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Each of the Four Numbers of "100 Choice Selections" contained in this volume is paged separately, and the Index is made to correspond therewith. See EXPLANATION on first page of Contents.

The entire book contains nearly

1000 pages.

100

CHOICE SELECTIONS.

No. 20.

OUR COUNTRY.-W. J. PABODIE.

Our country! 'tis a glorious land!

With broad arms stretched from shore to shore;
The proud Pacific chafes her strand,

She hears the dark Atlantic roar;
And, nurtured on her ample breast,
How many a goodly prospect lies
In Nature's wildest grandeur drest,
Enameled with her loveliest dyes.
Rich prairies, decked with flowers of gold,
Like sunlit oceans roll afar;

Broad lakes her azure heavens behold,
Reflecting clear each trembling star;
And mighty rivers, mountain-born,

Go sweeping onward, dark and deep,
Through forests where the bounding fawn
Beneath their sheltering branches leap.
And, cradled 'mid her clustering hills,
Sweet vales in dreamlike beauty hide,
Where love the air with music fills,
And calm content and peace abide;
For plenty here her fulness pours
In rich profusion o'er the land,
And, sent to seize her generous store,
There prowls no tyrant's hireling band

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Great God! we thank thee for this home--
This bounteous birth-land of the free,
Where wanderers from afar may come,
And breathe the air of liberty!
Still may her flowers untrampled spring,
Her harvests wave, her cities rise;
And yet, till Time shall fold his wing,
Remain earth's loveliest paradise!

VASHTI.-JULIA C. R. DORR.

Ahasuerus reigned. Kinglier king
Never did poet praise or minstrel sing!
He had no peers. Crownèd queen,

Clasping the sceptre my small hands between,
I might have reigned, ye kept a heart as free
As this light breeze that sweeps the Persian Sea!
But, ah! I loved my king-O woeful day of days!
Whose hours I number now in sad amaze,
That day Ahasuerus smiled and said,
"Since first I wore this crown upon my head,
Thrice have the emerald clusters of the vine
Changed to translucent globes of ruby wine:
And thrice the peaches on the loaded walls
Have rounded into gold and crimson balls.
The riches of my kingdom shall be shown,
And all my glorious majesty made known!"
Then came from far and near a hurrying throng
Of skilled and cunning workmen. All day long
And far into the silent night, they wrought;
Giving form to their great master's thought—
Till Shushan grew a marvel! Never yet
Yon rolling sun on fairer scene has set:
The palace windows were ablaze with light;
And Persia's lords were there, most richly dight
In broidered silks, or costliest cloth of gold,
That kept the sunshine in each lustrous fold:
Up from the gardens floated the perfume

Of rose and myrtle, pomegranate and orange bloom;
Softest music swept

Through the vast arches, till men smiled and wept

For very joy. Then slowly keeping time

To the gay cymbal's clearly ringing chime,

Stole down the long arcades the dancing girls;
Some with dark-braided tresses, some with sunny curls
Wild waxed the revel.

On an ivory throne

Inlaid with ebony and gems that shone
With a surpassing lustre, sat my lord,
The king Ahasuerus. His great sword
Blazing with diamonds on hilt and blade-
The mighty sword that made his foes afraid-
And the heavy crown his head refused to wear,
More fitly crowned by his own clustering hair,
Lay on a pearl-wrought cushion by his side,
Mute symbol of great Persia's power and pride.
Louder and louder grew the sounds of mirth;
Faster and faster flowed the red wine forth;
Till flushed with pride, and song, and wine,
The king rose up and said, "O nobles mine!
Princes of Persia, Media's hope and pride,
Stars of my kingdom, will ye aught beside?
Speak! and I swear your sovereign's will shall be,
On this fair night to please and honor ye!"
Then rose a shout from out the glittering throng,
Drowning the voice of merriment and song.
Out spoke at last a tongue that should have been
Palsied in foul dishonor there and then:
"O great Ahasuerus! ne'er before

Reigned such a king so blest a people o'er!

What shall we ask? What great and wondrous boon
To crown the hours that fly away too soon?
There is but one. "Tis said that mortal eyes
Never yet gazed in strange, yet sweet surprise,
Upon a face like that of her who wears
Thy signet ring, and all thy glory shares,—
Our fair Queen Vashti. Naught beside
Can fill our cup of happiness and pride."
A murmur ran throughout the startled crowd,
Swelling at last to plaudits long and loud.

Maddened with wine they knew not what they said:
Ahasuerus bent his haughty head,

And for an instant o'er his face there swept
A look his courtiers in their memory kep
For many a day-a look of doubt and pain,
They scarcely caught ere it had passed again.

My kingly word is pledged.” Then to the seven Lord chamberlains to whom the keys were given: "Haste ye, and to this noble presence bring

Vashti, the queen, with royal crown and ring."
They did their errand, those old gray-haired men,
Who should have braved the lion in his den,
Or ere they bore such message to their queen,
Or took such words their aged lips between.
"What! I, the daughter of a kingly race,
Step down, unblushing, from my lofty place,
And stand unveiled before the curious eyes
Of the mad rabble that with drunken cries
Were shouting 'Vashti! Vashti !'”

In wonder and affright,

At the fearful omens of that wild, mad night,
My maidens hung around me as I told

These seven lord chamberlains, so gray and old,
To bear this answer back: "It may not be.
My lord, my king, I cannot come to thee.
It is not meet that Persia's queen, like one
Who treads the market place from sun to sun,
Should bare her beauty to the hungry crowd
Who name her name in accents hoarse and loud."
With stern, cold looks they left me. Ah! I knew
If my dear lord to his best self were true,
That he would hold me guiltless, and would say,
"I thank thee, Vashti, that thou didst not obey!"

But the red wine was ruling o'er his brain;
The cruel wine that recked not of my pain.

Up from the angry throng a clamor rose;

The flattering sycophants were now my foes;
With slow, wise words, and many a virtuous frown,
One said, “Be the queen from her estate cast down!
Let her not see the king's face evermore,
Nor come within his presence as of yore;
So disobedient wives through all the land
Shall read the lesson, heed and understand."
Up spoke another, eager to be heard,

In royal councils fain to have a word:

"Let this commandment of the king be writ
In the law of the Medes and Persians, as is fit,
The perfect law that man may alter not,
Nor of its bitter end abate one jot."

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