1S6 



THE AMERICAN MUSEUM .JOURNAL 



In truth there's nothing in your favor save 



the claim 

 That you mean progress, and that notion's 



so absurd 

 It serves but to condemn you. 



Tunicate. Alas! What have we come to 



In this mad quest for progress? 



I fear 'tis as our friends declare, we 're topsy- 

 turvy, 



And in seeking what is not, have lost what is. 



For me no hope of excellence is left, no hope 

 of being fit to stand 



With lobster, snail or maritime cucumber. 

 Yet I may show 



My penitence in just one way, I may forego 



These modern airs and change into a humble 

 squirting sac. 



B.\L.\xoGLOSSUS. And 1 also must hide my 



new conceits, 

 And simulate a worm. I pray j'ou friends, 

 In charity pretend I am a worm. 



Amphioxus. Oh, comrades of such slender 



faith, 

 O'ercome by tory talk, 

 No future lies in store for you 

 But one dull round to walk. 

 Invertebrates you cannot be. 

 Nor vertebrates withal. 

 Alone among the beasts of sea. 

 The laughing stock of all. 

 My children are the heirs of time. 

 My sons will rule the earth. 

 When vertebrates come to their own. 

 And human things have birth. 



Act II 



In the depths of a shady pool. Frogs and Fishes 



First Scene 



Frog. Long have I lived in deep pellucid 



pools. 

 Life has been sweet among the tangled weeds. 

 Food has been cheap, since here Dame 



Nature breeds 

 Abundantly her water worms, while schools 

 Of little fishes serve our utmost needs. 

 And yet, in midst of plenty, discontent 

 Arose, and lU'ged by some strange sprite, 

 I must be going upward to the light, 

 Toward the upper air with full intent 

 To face the sun, and see the stars by night. 



Fish. By all my barbels, 'tis a crazy thought. 

 What frenzy has possessed you? Do you 



know 

 This air you talk of is not fit f(jr use 

 By vcrtebrated beasts, gilled and soft-skinned. 

 Or clothed in scaly armor. The insect host, 



all chit in-clad 



May live on earth in air, as may the plants 



that raise their fronds 

 O'er marsh and pool. But as for us, 

 The highest of created things, we need the 



best environment, 

 The flowing waves, soft sand and mud, 

 Where heat and dryness, cold and wind, 

 Do not beset us. 



Frog. Yet I must go, and do believe 

 'Tis in the way of progress. 

 Why else am I possessed of limbs, 

 ^^'ith jointed toes and power to jump? 



Fi.sH. Jump back into the water! 



Frog. No, jump on land, and see the sights 

 No vertebrate has .seen before. 

 Go up and down, and eat the lowly things 

 Which heretofore have gone scot-free, 

 E^xcept they ate each other. 



