Our Profession and Other Poems Part 3

The snow-clad mountain terror-- The fearful avalanche-- Whose thunders are heard in valleys Where imploring faces blanch;

The mouth of a raging Etna With its stifling breath of fire, Wherein the pride of a city In a moment may expire;

The trembling of the mountains When an earthquake pa.s.ses by, And the terror of the people Struck dumb in their agony;

The rage of a foaming torrent, After the bursting cloud Has poured its liquid fury In destruction wild and loud;

Are but the potent protests Of Nature's elements Against some ill arrangement That brings them discontents.

But these in separate actions, Or in forces all combined, Leave not so sad a ruin As the wreck of one human mind.

The voice, the eye, and the manner Are all unlocked by a key That has for its great attraction A confiding sympathy.

The knowledge of books is essential To those who youth would guide, But the grace of earnest endeavor Excels all else beside.

Truth in its plainness is beauty, Science itself is a charm, But the frown of a tyrant tutor Puts both in constant alarm.

To receive a healthful impression, Mind must be free from fear, Will must be held by attraction, Soul, by a soul sincere.

MIRRORS.

Some persons in mind are but mirrors Reflecting what others have thought, That make no original errors, They are only able to quote.

You may ask their opinion on matters That pertain to affairs of the day, Their minds are but shreds and tatters Of what all their neighbors say.

We respect the man who is careful With others his mind to compare, But who of himself is not fearful His honest opinion to share With men, when some public measure Upon the State has been thrown,-- Who proves his mind a rich treasure He uses and calls his own.

MANY.

Many a grand ambition Had birth and died in a day, From lack of vigorous nursing To keep it from decay.

Many a hope has faded And sunk in deepest despair, Through lack of careful pruning That fruitage it might bear.

Many a mind is ruined And becomes chaotic ma.s.s, Through want of systematic Training in the cla.s.s.

Many a song of sweetness Has lost its harmony, Because at its beginning It had not the proper key.

Many a field most fertile Bears vile and noxious weeds, Through failure of the tiller To sow some worthy seeds.

Many a flower of beauty And sweetness blooms unseen, And dies in its seclusion On a bed of mossy green.

Better to have no talent, No excellence to give, Than permit vice to destroy The talent we may have.

No dam can restrain the water When leaks receive no care, When the tempest in wild fury Doth chafe and gnaw and tear, And no hand is raised to succor, No effort to repair, Till the torrent bursts in fury And fills us with despair.

'Tis too late then for repining, Too late, for work or prayer.

DUTY DONE.

A duty done is victory won, E'en though in the doing, Efforts may fail to bring avail In lines we are pursuing.

Nothing is lost whate'er the cost, When efforts made are n.o.ble, Beyond the sky acts never die, And honor's crown is double.

Right cannot fail, but must prevail, If n.o.ble be the motive; Heaven is nigher if we aspire With hearts sincere and votive.

Much strength we gain when we maintain A truth for truth's sake solely; A mighty power guides effort's hour And stamps its cause as holy.

If honest heart act well its part, And ask the aid of heaven Its feeblest word will be so heard That succor will be given.

It matters not how low our lot We rise by honest trial; No effort made for needed aid E'er met complete denial.

The soul expands when it demands A right for self and others, And darkest night has ray of light For honest helpful brothers.

A n.o.ble soul spurns the control Would bind in servile fetters; No chains can bind G.o.d-given mind Inspired by love and letters.

An earnest will can ne'er be still Though oft its hopes be baffled, It will succeed though victims bleed And die upon the scaffold.

Loud shout and sing, "Crown Effort King,"

And let the watchword be This earnest prayer heard everywhere, "G.o.d and Humanity."

A duty done is victory won, For strength comes by the doing; There's no retreat, there's no defeat, If right we are pursuing.

THE SENSES.

THE EYE.

Some eyes are trained to scan large field Till instantaneous glance may yield A knowledge full and plenty; While others keep a narrow ken And view the ways of active men With satisfaction scanty.

The optic nerve has power so keen, That ev'ry object by it seen Is stamped upon the brain; But they of sluggish mental mold No vivid photograph will hold, And scarce a scene retain.

THE EAR