The Poet came!
With streaming hair, pale brow, and nervous tread he hither came to brood
O’er Nature’s vastest works, to wrench the beauties from this solitude,
And weave in mystic rhyme these wond’rous scenes for common mortals’ gaze.
Entranced, he seized his pen. Anon he wrote—methinks he wrote in praise.
Then pensively he stood, and mutt’ring said: “Words suit well the minstrel’s lays,
But, ’tis an unwritten poem, to tempt the soul through endless days.”
The Fool came!
He smiled. On good terms with himself he seemed, as one who owned the world.
In jocund speech he cried, “’Tis ours!” and in mock haste his flag unfurled.
On ancient log he rests. He laughs, he jokes, and chats. Behold him look!
’Tis for a match; he faggots brings, he lights a fire—a meal to cook.
Says he: “Extr’ordinary! Ar’nt this grand? By gol! old fel, I’ll write a book.”
Then words like snow-flakes fall—like snow-flakes in a brook.
A DIGRESSION.
“Now, my children,” said Oseba, “permit me to make a few observations based upon my study among the Outeroos, which will apply to the country under review.
“Remember, all terms expressing quality—such as good and evil, right and wrong, truth and error—are relative, and, as affecting men, the definition to each individual depends upon his environment. As a fact, the rules expressing these ideas are largely fictions established by society for its own purpose, but, in their general application, they must be allowed considerable latitude.
“A country is good or bad, as it offers or withholds opportunity for earning a livelihood, and for the development of the mental faculties by the application of reasonable efforts; and a government is good or bad, as it withholds or encourages such opportunities and aspirations. ‘When the wise rule, the people rejoice’—even in the barren districts. It is a matter—well, it is a matter—largely of ‘grey matter.’ As a rule, Nature has not been niggard in the distribution of her blessings. And, as a rule, the term good or bad, when applied to a country, applies less to the soil than to the society. It is college versus cannon, or inquiry versus credulity. Under a reign of benign justice, from a barren soil may arise an earthly paradise, while bigotry, war, and oppression will make a hell of the fairest valley.
‘The gods wondered, and Viehnu said to Bel,
“With seven wise men shalt thou enter hell,
Or with five fools, pass into paradise.”
“Give me,” said Bel, “hell with the wise,
For that is heaven, where they do dwell,
While fools would make of Heaven itself a hell.”’