OUNT.
Count, mount, fount, amount, dismount, remount, surmount, ac-
count, oiscouut, miscount. Allowable rhytni-s, want, font, don't, won't,
OUP, see OOP.
OUR.
Hour, lour, sour, our, scour, deflour, devour, etc., rhymes perfectly
with bower, cower, flower, power shower, tower, etc., pronounced
bow'r, tow'r, etc. Allowable rhymes, bore, more, roar, pour, tour,
moor, poor, etc., pure, sure, etc., sir, stir, bur, cur, etc.
OURGE, see URGE.
OURNE, see ORN ana URN.
OURS.
Ours rhymes perfectly u'ifh the plurals of nouns and third persons
pnsi-nt of verbs in our, and ower, as hours, scours, deflours, bowers,
showers, etc. Allowable rhymes, the plurals of nouns and third persons
present of verbs in oor and ure, as boors, moors, etc., cures, endures,
etc.
OURS.
Yours rhymes perfectly with the plurals of nouns and third persons
present of verbs in ure, as cures, endures, etc. Allowable rhymes, ours,
and its perfect rhymes and the jilurals of nouns and third persons pre-
sent 'of verbs in oor, ore, and ur, as boors, moors, etc., shores, pores,
etc., burs, slurs, stirs, etc.
OURSE, sff ORCE.
OUKT, see OUT.
OUHTH, seeOHTH..
OUS, see US.
OUS, pronounced OUCE.
House, mouse, chouse, etc. Allowable rhymes, the. nouns close, dose,
jocose, etc., deuce, use, produce, etc., us, thus, etc., moose, and the
noun noose.
OUSE, pronounced OUZE, see OWZE.
OUT.
Bout, stout, out, clout, pout, gout, grout, rout, scout, shout, snout,
spout, stout, sprout, trout, about, (.evout, without, throughout, etc.,
maims i>> rjnily null doubt, redoubt, misdoubt, drought, etc. Allow-
a'l'i rhymes, note, vote, etc.. boat, coat, etc., lute, suit, etc., got, not,
etc., nut, shut, hoot, boot, etc.
OUTH.
Mouth, south, when nouns have < he th sharp. The verbs to mouth,
to south, may allowably rhyme with booth, smooth, etc., which see.
OW, sounden OU.
Now, bow, how. mow, cow, brow, plow, sow, vow, prow, avow, al-
low, disallow, endow, etc. Perjfct rhynv-s, bough, plough, slough
(i/iiri ), etc., tUou. Allowable rhymes, go, no, blow, sow, etc.
OW, sounded OWE.
Blow, 'stow, crow, bow, flow, glow, grow, know, low, mow, row,
show, sow, strow, stow, slow, snow, throw, trow, below, bestow, fore-
know, outgrow, overgrow, overflow, overthrow, reflow, foreshow, etc.
Perfect rhymes, go, 110, toe, foe, owe, wo, oh, so, lo, though, hoe, ho,
ago, forego, undergo, dough, roe, sloe, and the verb to sew (with the
needle). Allowable rhymes, uow, cow, vow, do, etc. See the last article.
OWL, set OLE.
Cowl, growl, owl, fowl, howl, prowl, etc. Perfect rhymes^ ecowl,
foul, etc. Allowable rhymes, bowl, soul, hoal, goal, etc., dull, gull, etc
OWN, eeONE.
Brown, town, clown, crown, down, drown, frown, grown, adown,
renown, embrown, etc. Perfect rhyme, noun. Allowable rhymm,
tone, boue, moan, own, and the j)articiples, thrown, shown, blown, etc.
OWSE, see OUSE.
Blouse. Perfect rhymes, brouse, trouse, rouse, spouse, carouse,
souse, espouse, the verbs to house, mouse, etc. , and the plurals of mm n .
dm/ third persons, present tense, of verbs in ow, as brows, allo'ws, etc.
Allowable rhymes hose, those, to dose, etc.
OX.
Ox, box, fox, equinox, orthodox, heterodox, etc. Perfect rhyms.i,
f/i> /ih/rals of nou^s and third persons present of verbs l/iocjc, as locks,
stocks, etc. Allowable rhymes, the plurals ofnounn, and third persons
IH-I si nt of verbs in oke, oak, and uck, a* strokes, oaks, cloaks, sucks,
etc.
OY.
Boy, buoy, coy, employ, cloy, joy, toy, alloy, annoy, convoy, decoy,
destroy, enjoy, employ.
OZE, fee OSE.
UB.
Cub, club, dub, drub, grub, rub, snub, shrub, tub. Allowable rhymes,
cube, tube, etc., cob, rob, etc.
UBE.
Cube, tube. Allowable rhymes, club, cub, etc.
UCE.
Truce, sluice, spruce, deuce, conduce, deduce, induce, introduce, pro-
duce, seduce, traduce, juice, reduce, etc., rlnjin: IH rf-!h/
noit/is use, abuse, profuse, abstruse, disuse, excuse, misuse, obtuse,
recluse.
UCH, fff UTCH.
UCK.
Buck, luck, pluck, suck, struck, tuck, truck, duck. Allowable
rhyniis, puke, duke, etc., look, took, etc.
2T8
VOCABULARY OF RHYMES.
UCT.
Conduct, deduct, instruct, obstruct, aqueduct. Perfect rhymes, the
preterits and participles of verbs in uck, as ducked, s'ucked, etc. Al-
lowable rhymes, the preterite and participles of verbs in uke and ook,
as puked, hooked, etc.
TJD.
Bud, scud, stud, mud, cud, rhyme perfectly ivith blood and flood.
Allowable rhymes, good, hood, etc., rood, food, etc., beatitude, latitude.
UDE.
Eude, crude, prude, allude, conclude, delude, elude, exclude, exude,
include, intrude, obtrude, seclude, altitude, fortitude, gratitude, inter-
lude, latitude, longitude, magnitude, multitude, solicitude, solitude,
vicissitude, aptitude, habitude, ingratitude, inaptitude, lassitude,
plenitude, promptitude, servitude, similitude, etc. Perfect rhymes,
leud, feud, etc., and the preterits and participles of verbs in ew, as
stewed, viewed, etc. Allowable rhymes, bud, cud, etc., good, hood,
blood, flood, etc.
UDGE.
Judge, drudge, grudge, trudge, adjudge, prejudge.
UE, xfe EW.
UFP.
Buff, cuff, bluff, huff, gruff, luff, puff, snuff, stuff, ruff, rebuff, courter-
buff, etc. Perfect rhymes, rough, tough, enough, slough (cast skin),
chough, etc. Allowable rhymes, loaf, oaf, etc.
UFT.
Tuft. Perfect rhymes, the preterits and participles of verbs in uff,
as cuffed, stuffed, etc.
UG.
Lug, bug, dug, drug, hug, rug, slug, snug, mug, shrug, pug. .Allow-
able rhymes, vogue, rogue, etc.
UICE, see USE.
TJISE, see ISE and USE.
UIE, see IE.
UKE.
Duke, puke, rebuke, etc. Nearly perfect rhymes, cook, lookj book,
etc. Allowable rhymes, duck, buck, etc.
UL and ULL.
Cull, dull, gull, hull, lull, mull, null, trull, skull, annul, disannul.
Allowable rhymes, fool, tool, etc., wool, bull, pull, full, bountiful,
fanciful, sorrowful, dutiful, merciful, wonderful, worshipful, and every
word ending in ful, having the accent on the antepenultimate syllable.
ULE.
Mule, pule, yule, rule, overrule, ridicule, misrule. Allow able rhymes,
cull, dull, wool, full, bountiful, etc. See the last article.
ULGE.
Bulge, indulge, divulge, etc.
ULK.
Bulk, hulk, ekulk.
ULSE.
Pulse, repulse, impulse, expulse, convulse.
ULT.
Result, adult, exult, consult, indult, occult, insult, difficult. Allow-
able rhymes, colt, bolt, etc.
UM.
Crum, drum, gram, gum, hum, mum, scum, plum, stum, sum, swum,
thrum. Perfect rhymes, thumb, dumb, succumb, come, become, over-
come, burthensome, cumbersome, frolicsome, humorsome, quarrel-
some, troublesome, martyrdom, Christendom. Allowable rhymes, fume,
plume, rheum, and room, doom, tomb, hecatomb.
UME.
Fume, plume, assume, consume, perfume, resume, presume, deplume.
UMP.
Bump, pump, jump, lump, plump, trump, stump, rump, thump.
UN.
Dun, gun, nun, pun, run, sun, shun, tun, stun, spun, begun.
Perfect rhymes, son, won, ton, done, one, none, undone. Allowable
rhymes, on, gone, etc., tune, prune, etc. See ON.
UNCE.
Dunce, once, etc. Alloivable rhyme, sconce.
UNCH.
Bunch, punch, hunch, lunch, munch.
UNO.
Fund, refund. Perfect rhymes, the preterits and participles of verbs
in uu, as shunned, etc.
UNE.
June, rune, untune, jejune, prune, importune, etc. Nearly perfect
rhymes, moon, soon, etc. Allowable rhymes, bun, dun, etc. **
^ UNG.
Clung, dung, flung, hung, rung, strung, sung, sprung, slung, stung,
swung, unsung. Perfect rhymes, young, tongue, among. Allowable
rhymes, song, long, etc.
UNGE.
Plunge, spunge, expunge, etc.
UNK.
Drunk, "sunk, shrunk, stunk, spunk, punk, trunk, slunk. Perfect
rhyme, monk.
UNT.
Brunt, blunt, hunt, runt, grunt. Perfect rhyme, wont (to be accus-
tomed).
UP.
Cup, sup, up. Allowable rhyme*, cope, scope, and dupe, group, etc.
UPT.
Abrupt, corrupt, interrupt. Perfect rhymes, the participles of verbs
in up, us supp6d, etc. ,
UE.
Blur, cur, bur, fur, slur, spur, concur, demur, incur. Perfect rhymes,
sir, stir. Nearly perfect rhymes, fir, etc. Allowable rhymes, pore, oar.
UEB.
Curb, disturb. Nearly perfect rhymes, verb, herb, etc. Allowable
rhyme, orb.
URCH.
Church, lurch, birch. Nearly perfect rhymes, -perch, search. Allow-
able rhyme, porch.
UED.
Curd, absurd. Perfect rhymes, bird, word, and the preterits and par-
ticiples of verbs in ur, as spurred. Allowable rhymes, board, ford, cord,
lord, etc., and the preterits and participles of verbs in ore, oar, and or,
as gored, oared, abhorred, etc., also the preterits and participles of verbs
in, ure, as cured, immured, etc. See ORD.
URE.
Cure, pure, dure, lure, sure, adjure, allure, assure, demure, conjure,
endure, manure, enure, insure, immature, immure, mature, obscure,
procure, secure, adjure, calenture, coverture, epicure, investiture, for-
feiture, furniture, minature, overture, portraiture, primogeniture, tem-
perature. Allowable rhymes, poor, moor, power, sour, etc., cur, bur,
URF.
Turf, scurf, etc.
URGE.
Purge, urge, surge, scourge. Perfect rhymes, verge, diverge, etc.
Allowable rhymes, gorge, George, etc., forge, etc.
URK.
Lurk, Turk. Perfect rhyme, work. Nearly perfect rhymes, irk, jerk,
perk.
URL, see IRL.
Churl, curl, furl, hurl, purl, uncurl, \mfurl. Nearly perfect rhymes,
girl, twirl, etc., pearl, etc.
URN.
Burn, churn, spurn, turn, urn, return, overturn. Perfect rhymes, so-
journ, adjourn, rejourn.
URSE.
Nurse,curse, purse, accurse, disburse, imburse, reimburse. Perfect
rhyme, worse. A llowable rhymes, coarse, corse, force, verse, disperse,
horse, etc.
URST.
Burst, curst, accurst, etc. Perfect rhymes, thirst, worst, first.
URT.
Blurt, hurt, spurt. Perfect, rhymes, dirt, shirt, flirt, squirt, etc. Al-
lowable rhymes, port, court, short, snort, etc.
US,
Us, thus, buss, truss, discuss, incubus, overplus, amorous, boisterous
clamorous, credulous, dangerous, degenerous, generous, emulous
fabulous, frivolous, hazardous, idolatrous, infamous, miraculous, mis
chievous, mountainous, mutinous, necessitous, numerous, ominous
perilous, poisonous, populous, prosperous, ridiculous, riotous, ruinous
scandalous, scrupulous, sedulous, traitorous, treacherous, tyrannous
venomous, vigorous, villainous, adventurous, adulterous,"ambiguous
blasphemous, dolorous, fortuitous, sonorous, gluttonous, gratuitous
incredulous, lecherous, libidinous, magnanimous, obstreperous, odo-
riferous, ponderous, ravenous, rigorous, slanderous, solicitous, timor-
ous, valorous, unanimous, calamitous. Allowable rhymes, the nouns
use, abuse, diffuse, excuse, the verb to loose,' and the nouns, goose,
deuce, juice, truce, etc., close, dose, house, mouse, etc.
USE, with the s pure.
The nouns use, disuse, abuse, deuce, truce. Perfect rhymes, the verb
to loose, the nouns, goose, noose, moose. Allowable rhymes, us, thus,
buss, etc.
USE, sounded UZE.
Muse, the verbs to use, abuse, amuse, diffuse, excuse, infuse, misuse,
peruse, refuse, suffuse, transfuse, accuse. Perfect rhymes, bruise, and
the plural of nouns and third persons singular of verbs in ew, and ue,
as dews, imbues, etc. Allowable rhymes, buzz, does, etc.
USH.
Blush, brush, crush, gush, flush, rush, hush. Allowable rhymes,
bush, push.
USK.
Busk, tusk, dusk, husk, musk.
UST.
Bust, crust, dust, just, must, lust, nist, thrust, trust, adjust, adust,
disgust, distrust, intrust, mistrust, robust, unjust. Perfect rhymes, the
preterits and participles of verbs in uss, as trussed, discussed, etc.
UT.
But, butt, cut, hut, gut, glut, jut. nut, shut, strut, englnt, rut, scut,
slut, smut, abut. Perfect rhyme, soot. Allowable rhymes, boot, etc.,
dispute, etc., boat, etc.
UTCH.
Hutch, crutch, Dutch. Perfect rhymes, much, such, touch, etc.
UTE.
Brute, lute, flute, mute, acute, compn 3, confute dispute, dilute, de-
pute, impute, minute, pollute, refute, repute, salute, absolute, attribute,
constitute, destitute, dissolute, execute, institute, irresolute, persecute,
prosecute, prostitute, resolute, substitute. Perfect rhymes, fruit, re-
cruit, etc. Allowable rhymes, boot, etc., boat, etc., note, etc., hut, etc.
UX.
Flux, reflux, etc. Perfect rhymes, the plurals of nouns and third
persons of verbs in uck, as ducks, trucks, etc. Allowable rhymes, the
plurals of nouns and third persons of verbs in ook, uke, oak, etc., as
cooks, pukes, oaks, etc.
Y, see IE.
GEMS OF POETRY.
279
Many of the following Poems belong in the Galaxy of those Poetic
Gems that Mankind will not allow to die.
ETERNAL JUSTICE.
BY CHARLES MACKAY.
HE man is thought a knave or fool,
Or bigot plotting crime,
Who, for the advancement of his race,
Is wiser than his time.
For him the hemlock shall distill,
For him the axe be bared ; !
For him the gibbet shall be built ;
For him the stake prepared : *
Him shall the scorn and wrath of men
Pursue with deadly aim ;
And malice, envy, spite, and lies,
Shall desecrate his name. .
But truth shall conquer at the last,
For round and round we run,
And ever the right comes uppermost
And ever is justice done.
Pace through thy cell, old Socrates,
Cheerily to and fro ;
Trust to the impulse of thy soul
And let the poison flow.
They may shatter to earth the lamp of clay,
That holds a light divine,
But they cannot quench the fire of thought
By any such deadly wine ;
They cannot blot thy spoken words
From the memory of man,
By all the poison ever was brewed
Since time its course began.
To-day abhorred, to-morrow adored,
So round and round we run,
And ever the truth comes uppermost,
And ever is justice done.
Plod in thy grave, gray Anchorite :
Be wiser than thy peers ;
Augment the range of human power,
And trust to coming years.
They may call thee wizard, and monk accursed,
And load thee with dispraise ;
Thou wert born five hundred years too soon
For the comfort of thy days.
But not too soon for human kind :
Time hath reward in store ;
And the demons of our sires become
The saints that we adore.
The blind can see, the slave is lord ;
So round and round we run
And ever the wrong is proved to be wrong,
And ever is justice done.
Keep, Galileo, to thy thought,
And nerve thy soul to bear ;
They may gloat over the senseless words they wring
From the pangs of thy despair :
They may veil their eyes, but they cannot hide,
1 he sun's meridian glow ;
The heel of a ptiest may tread thee down,
And a tyrant work thee woe ;
But never a truth has been destroyed :
They may curse it and call it a crime ;
Pervert and betray, or slander and slay
Its teachers for a time.
But the sunshine aye shall light the sky,
As round and round we run ;
And the truth shall ever come uppermost,
And justice shall be done.
And live there now such men as these
With thoughts like the great of old?
Many have died in their misery,
And left their thought untold.
280
SELECTIONS FKOM THE POETS.
And many live, and are ranked as mad,
And placed in the cold world's ban,
For sending their bright far-seeing souls
Three centuries in the van ;
They toil in penury and grief,
Unknown, if not maligned ;
Forlorn, forlorn, bearing the scorn
Of the meanest of mankind ;
But yet the world goes round and round
And the genial seasons run,
And ever the truth comes uppermost,
And ever is justice done.
HEREAFTER.*
LAND beyond the setting sun !
O realm more fair than poet's dream !
How clear thy silvery streamlets run,
How bright thy golden glories gleam !
Earth holds no counterpart of thine ;
The dark-browed Orient, jewel-crowned,
Pales, as she bows before thy shrine,
Shrouded in mystery so profound.
The dazzling North, the stately West,
Whose rivers flow from mount to sea ;
The South, flower-wreathed in languid rest,
What are they all compared with thee?
All lands, all realms beneath yon dome,
Where God's own hand hath hung the stars,
To thee with humblest homage come,
O world beyond the crystal bars !
Thou blest hereafter! Mortal tongue
Hath striven in vain thy speech to learn,
And fancy wanders, lost among
The flowery paths for which we yearn.
But well we know, that fair and bright
Far beyond human ken or dream,
Too glorious for our feeble sight,
Thy skies of cloudless azure beam.
We know thy happy valleys lie
In green repose, supremely blest ;
We know against thy sapphire sky
Thy mountain peaks sublimely rest.
And sometimes even now we catch
Faint gleamings from the far-off shore,
And still with eager eyes we watch
For one sweet sign or token more.
For oh, the deeply loved are there !
The brave, the fair, the good, the wise,
Who pined for thy serener air,
Nor shunned thy solemn mysteries.
^Published originally In
There are the hopes that, one by one,
Died even as we gave them birth ;
The dreams that passed ere well begun,
Too dear, too beautiful for earth.
The aspirations, strong of wing,
Aiming at heights we could not reach ;
The songs we tried in vain to sing ;
Thoughts too vast for human speech ;
Thou hast them all, Hereafter ! Thou
Shalt keep them safely till that hour
When, with God's seal on heart and brow,
We claim them in immortal power !
THE PLANTING OF THE APPLE TREE.
BY WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT.
*OME, let us plant the apple-tree !
Cleave the tough greensward with the spade ;
Wide let its hollow bed be made ;
There, gently lay the roots, and there
Sift the dark mold with kindly care,
And press it o'er- them tenderly,
As round the sleeping infant's feet,
We softly fold the cradle sheet ;
So plant we the apple-tree.
What plant we in this apple-tree ?
Buds, which the breath of summer days
Shall lengthen into leafy sprays ;
Boughs, where the thrush, with crimson breast,
Shall haunt, and sing, and hide her nest ;
We plant, upon the sunny lea,
A shadow for the noontide hour,
A shelter from the summer shower,
When we plant the apple-tree.
What plant we in this apple-tree ?
Sweets for a hundred flowery springs,
To load the May-wind's restless wings,
When, from the orchard-row, he pours
Its fragrance through our open doors ;
A world of blossoms for the bee,
Flowers for the sick girl's silent room,
For the glad infant sprigs of bloom,
We plant with the apple-tree.
What plant we in this apple-tree ?
Fruits that shall swell in sunny June,
And redden in the August noon,
And drop, as gentle airs come by,
That fan the blue September sky ;
While children, wild with noisy glee,
Shall scent their fragrance as they pass,
And search for them the tufted grass
At the foot of the apple-tree.
Harper's Magazine.
SELECTIONS F11OM THE POETS.
281
And when, above this apple-tree,
The winter stars are quivering bright,
And winds go howling through the night,
Girls, whose eyes o'erflow with mirth,
Shall peel its fruit by cottage hearth,
And guests in prouder homes shall see,
Heaped with the orange and the grape,
As fair as they in tint and shape,
The fruit of the apple-tree.
The fruitage of this apple-tree
Winds, and our flag of stripe and star,
Shall bear to coasts that lie afar,
Where men shall wonder at the view,
And ask in what fair groves they grew ;
And they who roam beyond the sea
Shall think of childhood's careless day,
And long hours passed in summer play,
In the shade of the apple-tree.
Each year shall give the apple-tree
A broader flush 01' roseate bloom,
And loosen, when the frost-clouds lower,
The crisp brown leaves in thicker shower ;
The years shall come and pass, but we
Shall hear no longer, where we lie,
The summer's song, the autumn's sigh,
In the boughs of the apple-tree.
And time shall waste this apple-tree.
Oh, when its aged branches throw
Thin shadows on the sward below,
Shall fraud and force and iron will
Oppress the weak and helpless still ?
What shall the tasks of mercy be,
Amid the toils, the strifes, the tears
Of those who live when length of years
Is wasting this apple-tree?
Who planted this old apple-tree? "
The children of that distant day
Thus to some aged man shall say '
And, gazing on its mossy stem,
The grey-haired man shall answer them :
" A poet of the land was he,
Born in the rude, but good old times ;
'Tis said he made some quaint old rhymes,
On planting the apple-tree."
CLEON AND I.
BY CHARLES MACKAY.
j LEON hath a million acres,
Ne'er a one have I ;
Cleon dwelleth in a palace,
In a cottage, I ;
Cleon hath a dozen fortunes,
Not a penny, I ;
Yet the poorer of the twain is
Cleon, and not I.
Cleon, true, possesseth acres,
But the landscape, I ;
Half the charms to me it yieldeth,
Money cannot buy.
Cleon harbors sloth and dullness,
Freshening vigor, I ;
He in velvet, I in fustian,
Richer man am I.
Cleon is a slave to grandeur,
Free as thought am I ;
Cleon fees a score of doctors,
Need of none have I ;
Wealth-surrounded, care-environed,
Cleon fears to die ;
Death may come, he '11 find me ready,
Happier man am I.
Cleon sees no charm in Nature 1 ,
In a daisy, I ;
Cleon hears no anthems ringing
In the sea and sky ;
Nature sings to me forever,
Earnest listener, I ;
State for state, with all attendants,
Who would change? Not I.
HANNAH JANE. *
BY PETROLEUM V. NASBY.
HE is n't half so handsome as when, twenty years agone,
At her old home in Piketon, Parson Avery made us one ;
/, The great house crowded full of guests of every degree f
The girls all envying Hannah Jane, the boys all envy-
ing me.
Her fingers then were taper, and her skin as white as milk.
Her brown hair what a mess it was ! and soft and fine as
silk;
No wind-moved willow by a brook had ever such a grace,
The form of Aphrodite, with a pure Madonna face.
She had but meagre schooling : her little notes, to me,
Were full of crooked pot-hooks, and the worst orthography ;
Her " dear " she spelled with double e, and " kiss " with but
one s ;
But when one 's crazed with passion, what's a letter more or
less?
She blundered in her writing, and she blundered when she
spoke,
And every rule of syntax, that old Murray made, she broke ;
But she was beautiful and fresh, and I well, I was young ;
Her form and face o'erbalanced all the blunders of her
tongue.
^Published originally In Harper's Magazine
282
SELECTIONS FROM THE POETS.
I was but little better. True, I 'd longer been at school ;
My tongue and pen were run, perhaps, a little more by
rule ;
But that was all. The neighbors round, who both of us
well knew,
Said which I believed she was the better of the two.
All's changed: the light of seventeen 's no longer in her
eyes ;
Her wavy hair is gone that loss the coiffeur's art sup-
plies ;
Her form is thin and angular ; she slightly forward bends ;
Her fingers, once so shapely, now are stumpy at the ends.
She knows but very little, and in little are we one ;
The beauty rare, that more than hid that great defect, is
gone.
My parvenu relations now deride my homely wife,
And pity me that I am tied, to such a clod.'for life.
I know there is a difference : at reception and Iev6e,
The brightest, wittiest, and most famed of women smile
on me ;
And everywhere I hold my place among the greatest
men ;
And sometimes sigh, with Whittier's judge, " Alas ! it
might have been."
When they all crowd around me, stately dames and bril-
liant belles,
And yield to me the homage that all great success com-
pels,
Discussing art and state-craft, and literature as well,
From Homer down to Thackeray, and Swedenborg on
41 Hell,"
I can 't forget that from these streams my wife has never
quaffed,
Has never with Ophelia wept, nor with Jack Falstaff
laughed ;
Of authors, actors, artists why, she hardly knows the
names ;
She slept while I was speaking on the Alabama claims.
I can't forget just at this point another form ap-
pears
The wife I wedded as she was before my prosperous
years ;
I travel o'er the dreary road we traveled side by side,
And wonder what my share would be, if Justice should
divide.
She had four hundred dollars left her from the old estate ;
On that we married, and, thus poorly armored, faced our
fate.
I wrestled with my books ; her task was harder far than
mine
' Twas how to make two hundred dollars do the work of
At last I was admitted ; then I had my legal lore,
An office with a stove and desk, of books perhaps a
score ;
She had her beauty and her youth, and some housew:7ely
skill,
And love for me and faith in me, and back of that a will.
I had no friends behind me no influence to aid ;
I worked and fought for every little inch of ground I
made.
And how she fought beside me ! never woman lived on
less :
In two long years she never spent a single cent for dress.