Cape Cod Ballads, and Other Verse Part 1

Cape Cod Ballads, and Other Verse.

by Joseph C. Lincoln.

Preface

A friend has objected to the t.i.tle of this book on the ground that, as many of the characters and scenes described are to be found in almost any coast village of the United States, the t.i.tle might, with equal fitness, be "New Jersey Ballads," or "Long Island Ballads," or something similar.

The answer to this is, simply, that while "School-committee Men" and "Village Oracles" are, doubtless, pretty much alike throughout Yankeedom, the particular specimens here dealt with were individuals whom the author knew in his boyhood "down on the Cape." So, "Cape Cod Ballads" it is.

The verses in this collection originally appeared in _Harper's Weekly, The Youth's Companion, The Sat.u.r.day Evening Post, Puck, Types, The League of American Wheelmen Bulletin_, and the publications of the American Press a.s.sociation. Thanks are due to the editors of these periodicals for their courteous permission to reprint.

J.C.L.

CAPE COD BALLADS

THE COD-FISHER

Where leap the long Atlantic swells In foam-streaked stretch of hill and dale, Where shrill the north-wind demon yells, And flings the spindrift down the gale; Where, beaten 'gainst the bending mast, The frozen raindrop clings and cleaves, With steadfast front for calm or blast His battered schooner rocks and heaves.

_To same the gain, to some the loss, To each the chance, the risk, the fight: For men must die that men may live-- Lord, may we steer our course aright._.

The dripping deck beneath him reels, The flooded scuppers spout the brine; He heeds them not, he only feels The tugging of a tightened line.

The grim white sea-fog o'er him throws Its clammy curtain, damp and cold; He minds it not--his work he knows, 'T is but to fill an empty hold.

Oft, driven through the night's blind wrack, He feels the dread berg's ghastly breath, Or hears draw nigh through walls of black A throbbing engine chanting death; But with a calm, unwrinkled brow He fronts them, grim and undismayed, For storm and ice and liner's bow-- These are but chances of the trade.

Yet well he knows--where'er it be, On low Cape Cod or bluff Cape Ann-- With straining eyes that search the sea A watching woman waits her man: He knows it, and his love is deep, But work is work, and bread is bread, And though men drown and women weep The hungry thousands must be fed.

_To some the gain, to some the loss_, _To each his chance, the game with Fate_: _For men must die that men may live_-- _Dear Lord, be kind to those who wait_.

THE SONG OF THE SEA

Oh, the song of the Sea-- The wonderful song of the Sea!

Like the far-off hum of a throbbing drum It steals through the night to me: And my fancy wanders free To a little seaport town, And a spot I knew, where the roses grew By a cottage small and brown; And a child strayed up and down O'er hillock and beach and lea, And crept at dark to his bed, to hark To the wonderful song of the Sea.

Oh, the song of the Sea-- The mystical song of the Sea!

What strains of joy to a dreaming boy That music was wont to be!

And the night-wind through the tree Was a perfumed breath that told Of the spicy gales that filled the sails Where the tropic billows rolled And the rovers hid their gold By the lone palm on the key,-- But the whispering wave their secret gave In the mystical song of the Sea.

Oh, the song of the Sea-- The beautiful song of the Sea!

The mighty note from the ocean's throat, The laugh of the wind in glee!

And swift as the ripples flee With the surges down the sh.o.r.e, It bears me back, o'er life's long track, To home and its love once more.

I stand at the open door, Dear mother, again with thee, And hear afar on the booming bar The beautiful song of the Sea.

THE WIND'S SONG

Oh, the wild November wind, How it blew!

How the dead leaves rasped and rustled, Soared and sank and buzzed and bustled As they flew; While above the empty square, Seeming skeletons in air, Battered branches, brown and bare, Gauntly grinned; And the frightened dust-clouds, flying.

Heard the calling and the crying Of the wind,-- The wild November wind.

Oh, the wild November wind, How it screamed!

How it moaned and mocked and muttered At the cottage window, shuttered, Whence there streamed Fitful flecks of firelight mild: And within, a mother smiled, Singing softly to her child As there dinned Round the gabled roof and rafter Long and loud the shout and laughter Of the wind,-- The wild November wind.

Oh, the wild November wind, How it rang Through the rigging of a vessel Rocking where the great waves wrestle!

And it sang, Light and low, that mother's song; And the master, staunch and strong, Heard the sweet strain drift along-- Softened, thinned,-- Heard the tightened cordage ringing Till it seemed a loved voice singing In the wind,-- The wild November wind.

THE LIFE-SAVER

(_Dedicated to the Men in the United States Life-saving Service_.)

When the Lord breathes his wrath above the bosom of the waters, When the rollers are a-poundin' on the sh.o.r.e, When the mariner's a-thinkin' of his wife and sons and daughters, And the little home he'll, maybe, see no more; When the bars are white and yeasty and the shoals are all a-frothin', When the wild no'theaster's cuttin' like a knife; Through the seethin' roar and screech he's patrollin' on the beach,-- The Gov'ment's hired man fer savin' life.

He's strugglin' with the gusts that strike and bruise him like a hammer, He's fightin' sand that stings like swarmin' bees, He's list'nin' through the whirlwind and the thunder and the clamor-- A-list'nin' fer the signal from the seas; He's breakin' ribs and muscles launchin' life-boats in the surges, He's drippin' wet and chilled in every bone, He's bringin' men from death back ter flesh and blood and breath, And he never stops ter think about his own;

He's a-pullin' at an oar that is freezin' to his fingers, He's a-clingin' in the riggin' of a wreck, He knows destruction's nearer every minute that he lingers, But it do'n't appear ter worry him a speck: He's draggin' draggled corpses from the clutches of the combers-- The kind of job a common chap would shirk-- But he takes 'em from the wave and he fits 'em fer the grave, And he thinks it's all included in his work.

He is rigger, rower, swimmer, sailor, doctor, undertaker, And he's good at every one of 'em the same: And he risks his life fer others in the quicksand and the breaker, And a thousand wives and mothers bless his name.

He's an angel dressed in oilskins, he's a saint in a "sou'wester", He's as plucky as they make, or ever can; He's a hero born and bred, but it hasn't swelled his head, And he's jest the U.S. Gov'ment's hired man.

"THE EVENIN' HYMN"

When the hot summer daylight is dyin', And the mist through the valley has rolled, And the soft velvet clouds ter the west'ard Are purple with tr.i.m.m.i.n.gs of gold,-- Then, down in the medder-gra.s.s, dusky, The crickets chirp out from each nook, And the frogs with their voices so husky Jine in from the marsh and the brook.

The chorus grows louder and deeper, An owl sends a hoot from the hill, The leaves on the elm-trees are rustling A whippoorwill calls by the mill.

Where swamp honeysuckles are bloomin'

The breeze scatters sweets on the night, Like incense the evenin' perfumin', With fireflies fer candles alight.

And the noise of the frogs and the crickets And the birds and the breeze are ter me Lots better than high-toned supraners, Although they don't get to "high C"; And the church, with its grand painted skylight, Seems cramped and forbiddin' and grim 'Side of my old front porch in the twilight When G.o.d's choir sings its "Evenin' Hymn."

THE MEADOW ROAD

Just a simple little picture of a sunny country road Leading down beside the ocean's pebbly sh.o.r.e, Where a pair of patient oxen slowly drag their heavy load, And a barefoot urchin trudges on before: Yet I'm dreaming o'er it, smiling, and my thoughts are far away 'Mid the glorious summer sunshine long ago, And once more a happy, careless boy, in memory I stray Down a little country road I used to know.