Of what avail to the parching sod,
Since it runneth down to the sea?

O cloud, I charge you to right my wrongs!
Be just with the bounty of God's own hand,
And scatter the rain where the rain belongs,
On the hot and thirsty land.

I charge you, cloud, by the love of God,
That you pour His gift on the humble plain
Till the myriad mouths of the parching sod
Drink deep of the blessed rain.

A RADICAL.

BY ROBERT F. GIBSON.

I am a Radical, and this my faith:
The aim and hope of all true citizens
Are justice and real happiness for all.
Some are content--I know not why--to sit
Among the sleepy worshippers who fill
The gilded temple of conservatism,
And sitting, awestruck, there they think they serve.
I am too busy for idolatry.
I carry in my hand a naked sword,
And pity, roused for one, stays not my hand
When prompt, sure blows mean freedom for a score.
That is my faith, and I am not afraid
To face my Maker when my name is called.

THE EDITOR'S EVENING.

Our Totem.

Carlyle has remarked upon the significance of symbolism. All nations
seek a sign. The sign becomes the visible expression of the highest
thought. It is made into an emblem around which the given people march
by day and encamp by night. Thus have come all the totems which mankind
have lifted up, from the brazen snake in the desert to the Stars and
Stripes on the mountain.

Symbolism has its beauty and also its ugliness. In some cases the symbol
is happily conceived. It is benign; it expresses hope, truth, fidelity,
aspiration, even immortality. Behold the egg of the Egyptians and their
circle expressive of undying life and eternity. Note the owl of the
Athenians. Note the sweet lily of ancient Provence, adopted by France as
the emblem of purity and national peace. Note the Irish shamrock--that
delicate green trifolium which has signified so much of union and hope
to an enthusiastic and failing race. On the other hand, note the serpent
of the Aztecs, the crawling reptiles of Malaysia and India, the savage
beasts and carnivorous birds adopted as the symbols of race-life and
purpose by the coarse barbarians of northern Europe, and preserved on
the flags and banners of their descendants to the present day.

Russia is a bear. Germany is a black eagle. France also, in her
Bonaparte mood, is an eagle. Imperial Rome _was_ an eagle from the da