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That play and sparkle on the moniing-dews ; — 



True sons of merry England, hieing forth 



Along those pleasant lanes o'er Kentish earth, — 



Knight, Millei\ Franklin, Sumner, Palmer, Clark, 



Good fellows all and each as gay as lark, — 



Each mounted on his palfrey, mare or nag, 



Good cheer behind in bottle and in bag, 



And better cheer in story and in song, — 



As thus in festal mood they jogged along, 



"Was it not meet these wights, so blithe and merry. 



Should canter leisurely to Canterburj'? 



Loitering along the road, perchance, at times 



(As strenuously slow as these, my rhymes). 



For these blithe pilgrim-folk, I apprehend, 



Were not in haste to reach their journey's end. 



Though to a stately shrine their steps were bound, 



Yet all the way was over pleasant ground ; 



The holy martyr's tomb they went to seek, 



That oft had holpeu them when sore and weak ; 



Yet was there not a healing in the trees 



That lined the road, and iu the balmy breeze? 



Had Nature's living breath aud human tones 



Less power to work a charm than dead men's bones? 



But wherefore then do these my wayward rhymes 



Wander to far off lands and distant times ? 



One reason may have been — I am not sure — 



That whilom I, in a White Mountain tour. 



From Alton Bay passed down toward Londonden-y 



And made a pilgrimage to Canterbury, 



With two good fellows scores of years ago — 



But that was not my only reason — no : 



This was my thought — how, in these hasteful days, 



We miss the healing touch of Nature's ways. 



With what a gentle grace her guiding hand 



Would lead us up through Beauty's magic land, 



Up through the Majesty of solemn woods 



To the Sublime of mountain solitudes. 



By beautiful gradations she prepares 



Both soul and sense to climb her heavenward stairs. 



Alas ! we reach, in these degenerate days, 



Her glorious shrines in too ignoble ways ! 



With snort of iron steed we wheel along, 



The steam-pipe's fitful screech our only song ; 



