SAY there! P'r'aps
Some on you chaps
Might know Jim Wild?
Well,-no offence:
Thar aint no sense
In gittin' riled'!
Jim was my chum
Up on the Bar:
That's why I come
Down from up thar,
Lookin' for Jim.
Thank ye, sir! you
Ain't of that crew,-
Blest if you are!
Money?-Not much :
That ain't my kind;
I ain't no such.
Rum ?-I don't mind,
Secin' it's you.
Well, this yer Jim,
Did you know him ?-
Jess 'bout your size;
Same kind of eyes?
Well, that is strange :
Why it's two year
Since he come here,
Sick, for a change,
What makes you star,
You over thar?
Can't a man drop
's glass in yer shop
But you must rar'?
It wouldn't take Derned much to break You and your bar.
Dead!
Poor-little-Jim!
-Why there was me,
Jones, and Bob Lee,
Harry and Ben,-
No-account men:
Then to take him!
Well, thar Good by,-
No more, sir,-I—
Eh?
What's that you say?—
Why, dern it!-sho!—
No? Yes! By Jo!
Sold!
Sold! Why you limb,
You ornery,
Derned old
Long-legged Jim !
Gazing where the setting sun-rays
Steeped the clouds in gorgeous dyes,
Stood my little maid last evening,
All her soul within her eyes,
"Mamma?" cried she earnest, breathless,
With a faith no doubt could mar,
"Isn't that what you've been reading?
Isn't that the Gates Ajar ?' "
"I can almost see the shining
Of the streets all paved with gold!
I can almost see the gleaming
Of the harps the angels hold!
Almost, mamma! for the glory
Shines so bright it dazzles me."
"Mamma!" here the soft voice faltered,
"Ain't I good enough to see!
"Is it 'cause I cried this morning When you called me from my play?
If I try again to-morrow,
Be real careful all the day,
Give you not the smallest trouble,
Study all my might and main-
Won't God let me see it plainly,
When he ope's the gates again ?"
"Nay my darling-years of striving,
Day by day, and hour by hour,
Every duty still fulfilling,
Could not give the wondrous power;
Yet would mist of sun and weakness
From your gaze the vision bar-
Never human eyes, unaided
Penetrate the gates ajar!"
Filled with wonder, vague yet wistful,
Gazed the soft blue eyes in mine,
Reading not my hidden meaning,
Loath the bright dream to resign.
"Never, mamma! shall I never
See that Heaven so bright and fair,
'Till I leave you, mamma, darling,
'Till the angels take me there ?"
"Nay my child, that heavenly radiance
Ne'er on earthly vision falls-
But to those whose hope and treasure
Garnered are within its walls,
God gives ofttimes spirit glimpses
Of their glorious home afar,
And to cheer life's thorny pathway
Sets the golden gates ajar!
"Then how petty seem the trials
That beset their onward way!
Of what little worth the baubles
Pleasures show to tempt astray!
No more weak and no more weary-
What this perfect bliss can mar!
While Faith's eyes behold the glories
Gleaming through the gates ajar!
"O, my darling, grasp the promise,
Bind it on your baby heart,
That for those who love him, Jesus
Mansions bright hath set apart!
Upward, then, towards the radiance,
Steadfast shining like a star,
Unbetrayed your feet shall journey
'Till they reach the gates ajar."
'Twas whispered one morning in Heaven How the little child-angel May,
In the shade of the great white portal,
Sat sorrowing night and day.
How she said to the stately warden―
He of the key and bar-
"O angel, sweet angel! I pray you,
Set the beautiful gates ajar-
Only a little, won't you
Set the beautiful gates ajar!
"I can hear my mother weeping;
She is lonely; she cannot see
A glimmer of light in the darkness
When the gates shut after me.
Oh! turn me the key, sweet angel,
The splendor will shine so far!"
But the warden answered, "I dare not
Set the beautiful gates ajar."
Spoke low and answered: "I dare not
Set the beautiful gates ajar."
In the battle of Sempach, in the fourteenth century, this martyr-patriot perceiving that there was no other means of breaking the heavy-armed lines of the Austrians than by gathering as many of their spears as he could grasp together, opened, by this means, a passage for his fellow-combatants, who, with hammers and hatchets, hewed down the mailed men-at-arms and won the victory.
"MAKE way for liberty!" he cried-
Made way for liberty, and died!
In arms the Austrian phalanx stood,
A living wall, a human wood;
Impregnable their front appears,
All horrent with projected spears.
Opposed to these, a hovering band
Contended for their fatherland,
Peasants, whose new-found strength had broke
From manly necks the ignoble yoke;
Marshalled once more at freedom's call,
They came to conquer or to fall.
And now the work of life and death
Hung on the passing of a breath;
The fire of conflict burned within ;
The battle trembled to begin :
Yet, while the Austrians held their ground,
Point for assault was nowhere found;
Where'er the impatient Switzers gazed,
The unbroken line of lances blazed;
That line 't were suicide to meet,
And perish at their tyrants' feet.
How could they rest within their graves,
To leave their homes the haunts of slaves?
Would they not feel their children tread,
With clanking chains, above their head?
It must not be: this day, this hour,
Annihilates the invader's power!
All Switzerland is in the field-
She will not fly; she cannot yield;
She must not fall; her better fate
Here gives her an immortal date.
Few were the numbers she could boast,
But every freeman was a host,
And felt as 't were a secret known
That one should turn the scale alone,
While each unto himself was he
On whose sole arm hung victory.
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