PANDORA'S CHEST 367 



hearth fires, and voices, weaves a new spell about me, 

 though having once opened wide the door of outdoors 

 it can never be closed. 



Do you remember the Masque of Pandora, and 

 the mysterious chest ? 



"Pandora 

 Hast thou never 

 Lifted the lid? 



Epimetheus 

 The oracle forbids. 



Safely concealed there from all mortal eyes 

 Forever sleeps the secret of the Gods. 

 Seek not to know what they have hidden from thee 

 Till they themselves reveal it." 



Bart was reading it aloud to me last night. Prose 

 read aloud always frets me, because one's mind travels 

 so much faster than the spoken words and arrives at 

 the conclusion, even if not always the right one, long 

 before the printed climax is reached; but with good 

 poetry it is different the thoughts are so crystallized 

 that the sound of a melodious voice liberates them more 

 swiftly. 



Verily Pandora's Chest has been opened this season 

 here in the garden; the gods were evidently not un- 

 willing and turned the lock for me, though perhaps 



