My first, of high degree,
Thousands succumb to thee—
In Oriental countries thou art found;
Beneath thy mighty power
Thy fainting victims cower,
Thy greatness brings them prostrate to the ground.
Unhonored and unsung,
My second was, when young,
Beheaded by a tyrant’s stern decree;
Her home and friends she left,
Her children were bereft,
Yet martyred in a worthy cause was she.
In far Afghanistan,
In China and Japan,
On Greenland’s ice and India’s coral strands;
My whole in mighty hordes,
So history records,
Worship their idols in barbaric bands.
[49]
IN a little old school-house that stood on a hill
A little old schoolmaster taught with a will.
But over his pupils he had no control;
They said he was crusty and cross and my whole.
And the rascals declared it would serve him just right
To play him a practical joke some fine night.
So down to the river they went, and they took
My first from my last of the dark, muddy brook.
Then they eagerly hurried, yet still as a mouse,
Till they came to the little old schoolmaster’s house.
They smuggled my first in my last with great glee,
And chuckled to think how irate he would be.
[50]
LEAVING my whole with grief and pain
Columbus sailed across the main.
He came at last to western lands
And saw the Red Men’s savage bands.
They were my last, they were my first,
Columbus’ fears were then dispersed.