With Ezra and Zerubbabel, Faring from Danube and from Don, Here Canaan's corn and vineyards boon The landscape lay in Moses' sight; No gift we bring but souls that tire- Building anew the living wall; No sound starts from thy quivering lips, With eyes that turn, and turn in vain, To where the freights of Tarshish's ships, Rocking in Tyre's or Zidon's port, Wound inland o'er the northern plain, Not thine the lamentation drear; On an unlistening nation's ear, And rolled away down Kedron's vale, The ruthless steps of morning fall Unto the Moslem worshipers The sanctuary and the wall Of Solomon. SHELLS. THESE Castaways some billow rolled O, fairy citadels of stone, Where, in the greenish dark, with cold And women made for beauty's glass They lay, with spoils of swirl and swell, Cloven by some melodious beat, DANDELIONS. WHEN the first dandelions took On their broad discs the light and dew, My heart ran truant, like the brook, And had its solace where they grew. 'Twas good again to see them bare The sunshine sent them from above; But not more ample than my love. Ah! ever-blended green and gold, That mantle all the summer land, I learn how much the heart can hold, How very little fills the hand. SILENCE. WHAT minstrel heart did ever make VIRGIL A. PINKLEY. 'IRGIL A. PINKLEY was born near the village Girard, in Illinois, February 18, 1852. His parents were well-to-do people, but without the abundant means necessary to give their children collegiate education. At the age of seventeen Virgil A. began to prepare for his life profession, for which he had already shown a natural taste. He entered the Girard High School, and like many other distinguished men of our time, he was obliged to pay his own way. Four years later he began a university course at Normal, Illinois. In 1873-4, he was placed at the head of the academy at Decatur, Illinois, where he won his first signal success as a teacher. When he was about to finish his university course at Normal, he was appointed superintendent of schools at New Boston, Illinois, which position he filled with great credit for two years, when he resigned his office to accept the more lucrative situation of the general agency of a Chicago publishing house. In 1878 Mr. Pinkley became a student at the National School of Elocution and Oratory at Philadelphia, Pa., and was graduated therefrom in 1879. The following five years he devoted his time and attention to the going from town to town, organizing and conducting elocutionary conventions, and to the teaching of oratory in various state and county institutes for the teachers of common schools, and in giving public exhibitions on his favorite theme. In 1883 he was called to the chair of Elocution and Oratory at the College of Music of Cincinnati. In that position Mr. Pinkley has met with undoubted success. For many years he has passed his summer vacations in the service of the various Chautauqua Assemblies scattered throughout the country. As a man of letters, Mr. Pinkley has just claims to success. As a poet he met with his first public recognition in 1883, when his "Model American Girl" sprang into notice and favor, being freely reproduced by the press of the country and generally admired. This poem was followed by many others scarcely less worthy. In the opinion of the writer of this sketch, "Seed-Sowing" and "Better Than Gold," are among his most poetic productions. The literary reputation of Mr. Pinkley, however, may be justly said to rest upon his writings in prose. They are mostly practical works written in connection with his chosen profession. Mr. Pinkley is still young, a hard worker, of excellent habits and methodical ways, and therefore a good teacher, promising to remain long in the important and useful position he now holds; and the public may confidently expect much more that is useful and instructive from his facile pen. J. M. C. THE MODEL AMERICAN GIRL. A PRACTICAL, plain young girl; A ruddy and rosy, A helper-of-self young girl. At-home-in-her-place young girl; A life that is clean, A princess-of-peace young girl. A wear-her-own-hair young girl; A-waste-not-an-hour, Plenty room in her shoes-this girl; Not a bang on her brow, She's just what she seems-this girl. Not a sipper of rum, At-ten-in-her-bed young girl; A dandy-despiser, We honor this lovable girl. A lover-of-prose young girl; A matter-of-fact young girl. A sure-to-succeed young girl; An honestly courting young girl; A never-seen-flirting young girl; A quiet, demure, A modest and pure A fit-for-a-wife young girl. A sought-everywhere young girl; We too seldom meet- BETTER THAN GOLD. BETTER than gold in the miser's grasp; Better than gold is the word of cheer, And better far a cheerful life And better than the miser's gold. Better than gold is the wealth we reap, And better far than gold refined Is wisdom gleaned to bless mankind; Better than gold is a conscience clear, Oftener found in the poor man's cot Than in the homes of the rich and great, Better than all that is born of gold, To have a heart that's warm within; SEED-SOWING. Sow the seed of soothing kindness, To dispel the gloom and pain; Sow bright words of warmth and welcome, That o'er earth good-will may reign; Sow upon a soil prolific That shall bear an hundred-fold, Choking out the thorns and briers, Turning weeds to stalks of gold. Scorn thou not to sow, moreover, On the fields less rich in loam; Should it bear not many measures, It will have its harvest-home. If the sower will but hearken, He will hear what God will keepWhether good or whether evil, What ye sow that ye shall reap. Though the soil be scant and sandy, And the rocks be thick and keen, With the hand of faith sow broadlySome stray soil may lie unseen; This may nourish seed sufficient To bring harvest-time around; And the hand of thrift may garner From the uninviting ground. What though way-side fowls fly over, Ripens grain and tares in turn; Sow the seeds of love and mercy, Worthy work for angel hands! WORK. Good advice for everyone; Soon the race of life is run; Work, work away. Seize the moments as they fly, -Work, Work Away. FREDERIC. E. WEATHERLY. PRE-EN RE-EMINENT among the song writers of the present century stands the name of F. E. Weatherly, whose fertile pen has clothed with beautiful fancies every phase of human life from the cradle to the grave, and has filled many pleasant pages in our poetic literature during a period of nearly twenty years. Mr. Weatherly has led, as it were, two lives strongly in contrast with each other, but full of interest and varied experiences. For many years he has been engaged as a tutor or coach at Oxford, cramming undergraduates with law, logic, classics, and political economy, and is the author of a work on the "Rudiments of Logic," which has enjoyed wide circulation as a university text-book. Yet, during all this period, we find him living a dual life-by day a busy toiler in dry, uninteresting drudgery; and by night, and in his intervals of rest, a writer of charming verse, expressed in language exquisite in its simplicity, and so rhythmical and musical in its flow that his lyrics have become popular wherever the English language is spoken. Frederic E. Weatherly is the son of a surgeon, and was born at Portishead, a pleasant seaside place on the Bristol Channel, in the County of Somerset, England, on the 4th of October, 1848. He received his early education at Hereford Cathedral School, where he displayed considerable aptitude and ability. In 1867 he went, as a scholar and exhibitioner, to Brasenose College, Oxford. He took his degree as B. A. in 1871, and subsequently that of M. A., being about the same time elected Hulmeian Exhibitioner. After spending a year as a master in Christ Church Cathedral School, he commenced private tuition, devoting about eleven hours daily to this work. It was in the intervals, between these laborious days, that Mr. Weatherly employed his hours of recreation—if recreation it may be called-in writing many of those lyrics and poems which have since become so famous. His first important contribution, "Gone Home on New Year's Eve," appeared in a now defunct paper entitled College Rhymes, and was often recited by the late Mr. Bellew with great success. On the installation of the Marquis of Salisbury as Chancellor of the University, in 1870, an ode by Mr. Weatherly was one of those selected for recitation in the theater; and, in the same year, he published his first volume of poems, entitled "Muriel, and Other Poems." Among his best-known songs are, "Nancy Lee," "London Bridge," "They all Love Jack," "Mid 1 shipmite," "Old Brigade," "Children's Home," "Auntie," "Last Watch,' ""Our Last Waltz," "Darby and Joan," "The Chorister," "Maids of Lee," "Needles and Pins," "My Lady's Bower," and "In Sweet September." There are, however, many others, the bare names of which would be more than sufficient to fill the whole space at my disposal. In addition to his prodigious work as a lyric author, he has largely contributed dramatic and other poems to current literature. In 1884 he wrote the libretto of "Hero and Leander," for the Worcester Musical Festival; in 1885, the "Song of Baldur," for the Hereford Festival; in 1886, "Andromeda," for the Gloucester Festival; and amongst his other writings are to be found "Children's Birthday Book," "Sixes and Sevens," "Told in the Twilight," "Through the Meadows," "Punch and Judy," "Out of Town," "Adventures of Two Children," "Land of Little People," "Sunbeams," "Nursery land" ""Honeymoon," etc. In children's literature he has attained very distinguished success; and, indeed, the same may be said of every form of poetry that he has touched. During his labors as a tutor he followed up the study of the law, and in 1887 was called to the bar, and is at present in practice as a barrister in London. In 1873 Mr. Weatherly married a daughter of the late Mr. John Hardwick, and is the father of three children; and to his happy married life may be attributed much of his success as a writer of domestic and nursery literature. W. C. N. POUR FORTH THE WINE! To wake the poet's lays.. The east wind, through the ungenial day, Gleams from the snow-patched hill. Thou friend of olden days! But when I see a clear, bright face, Pour forth the wine! the ruby wine! LONDON BRIDGE. PROUD and lowly, beggar and lord, Hour by hour they crowd along, Dainty, painted, powdered and gay, Rags-and-tatters, over the way, Carries a heart as high. Flowers and dreams from country meadows, Dust and din thro' city skies, Old men creeping with their shadows, Storm and sunshine, peace and strife, Waifs that drift to the shade or sun? Hurry along, sorrow and song, All is vanity 'neath the sun; |