SPEECHES AND POETRY. 239 



And, in sad keeping with all things about them, 

 Shrill, querulous women, sour and sullen men, 

 Untidy, loveless, old before their time, 

 With scarce a human interest, save their own 

 Monotonous round of small economies, 

 Or the poor scandal of the neighborhood ; 

 Blind to the beauty every- where revealed, 

 Treading the May-flowels with regardless feet ; 



&quot; For them the Bobolink sang not.&quot; 



For them the song-sparrow and the bobolink 



Sang not, nor winds made music in the leaves ; 



For them in vain October s holocaust 



Burned gold and crimson over all the hills, 



The sacramental mystery of the woods. 



Church-goers, fearful of the unseen Powers, 



But grumbling over pulpit tax and pew rent, 



Saving, as shrewd economists, their souls 



And winter pork with the least possible outlay 



Of salt and sanctity ; in daily life 



Showing as little actual comprehension 



Of Christian charity, and love, and duty, 



As if the Sermon on the Mount had been 



Outdated, like a last year s almanac ; 



Rich in broad woodlands and in half-tilled fields, 



