uild.

Truly shape and fashion these;
Leave no yawning gaps between;
Think not, because no man sees, 15
Such things will remain unseen.

In the elder days of Art,
Builders wrought with greatest care
Each minute and unseen part;
For the Gods see everywhere. 20

Let us do our work as well,
Both the unseen and the seen;
Make the house, where Gods may dwell,
Beautiful, entire and clean.

Else our lives are incomplete, 25
Standing in these walls of Time,
Broken stairways, where the feet
Stumble as they seek to climb.

Build to-day, then, strong and sure
With a firm and ample base 30
And ascending and secure
Shall to-morrow find its place.

Thus alone can we attain
To those turrets, where the eye
Sees the world as one vast plain, 35
And one boundless reach of sky.[2]

--_Longfellow_.

[1] The figure seems to be that of a great edifice (Time) within which
we are building stairways (our lives) which enable us to rise to
higher levels.

[2] We gain a broader outlook on life.

BRITISH FREEDOM.[1]

It is not to be thought of that the flood
Of British freedom, which, to the open sea
Of the world's praise, from dark antiquity
Hath flow'd "with pomp of waters unwithstood"--[2]
Roused though it be full often to a mood, 5
Which spurns the check of salutary bands,
That this most famous stream in bogs and sands
Should perish,[3] and to evil and to good
Be lost for ever. In our halls is hung
Armoury of the invincible knights of old: 10
We must be free or die, who speak the tongue
That Shakspeare spake--the faith and morals hold
Which Milton held. In everything we're sprung
Of earth's first blood, have titles manifold.

--_Wordsworth_.

[1] Written in 1802 or 1803, when an invasion of England by Napoleon
was expected.

[2] This phrase is quoted from a poem by Daniel, an Elizabethan poet.

[3] in bogs and sands should perish. Should be destroyed by Napoleon.

THE COURTSHIP OF MILES STANDISH.[1]

I

MILES STANDISH.

In the Old Colony days, in Plymouth the land of the Pilgrims,[2]
To and fro in a room of his simple and primitive dwelling,
Clad in doublet[3] and hose, and boots of Cordovan[4] leather,
Strode, wit