DEMOCEAOT AND LITEEATUEE 159 



And they fling him hour by hour 

 Limbs of men to give him power, 

 Brains of men to give Mm cunning; and for dainties to devour 

 Children's souls, the little worth; hearts of women, cheaply 



bought. 

 He takes them and he breaks them, but he gives them scanty 

 thought." 



Quite different is the treatment of " The Light- 

 ning Express " by a western poet, Mr. J. P. Irvine, 

 yet the poetic note is clearly and surely struck in 

 his stanzas too : — 



" In storm and darkness, night and day, 

 Through mountain gorge or level way, 

 With lightening rein and might unspent, 

 And head erect in scorn of space, 

 Holds, neck-and-neck, with time a race, 

 Flame-girt across a continent. 



Think not of danger; every wheel 

 Of all that clank and roll below 

 Eings singing answers, steel for steel. 

 Beneath the hammer's testing blow; 

 And what though fields go swirling round, 

 And backward swims the mazy ground. 

 So swift the herds seem standing still. 

 As scared they dash from hill to hill ; 

 And though the brakes may grind to fire 

 The gravel as they grip the tire 

 And holding, strike a startling vein 

 Of tremor through the surging train. 

 The hand of him who guides the rein 

 Is all-controlling and intent ; 

 Fear not, although the race you ride 

 Is on the whirlwind, side by side. 

 With time across a continent." 



What are the sources of the interesting in life ? 

 Novelty is one, but it is short-lived ; beauty and sub- 

 limity are others, and are more lasting. But the 

 main source of the interesting is human association. 



