ven then--O timely hour!--_
_the High Gods did confer_
_In our behalf:--And, clothed in power,_
_lo, came their Courier--_
_Not winged with flame nor shod with wind,--_
_but ambling down the pike_,
_Horseback, with saddlebags behind,_
_and guise all human-like._

_And it was given us to see,_
_beneath his rustic rind,_
_A native force and mastery_
_of such inspiring kind,_
_That half unconsciously we made_
_obeisance.--Smiling, thus_
_His soul shone from his eyes and laid_
_its glory over us._

* * * * *

_Though, faring still that Far-away_
_that yet to us seems near,_
_His form, through mists of yesterday,_
_fades from the vision here,_
_Forever as he rides, it is_
_in retinue divine,--_
_The hearts of all his time are his,_
_with your hale heart and mine._

[Illustration]

RUBAIYAT OF DOC SIFERS
BY JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY

[Illustration]

RUBAIYAT
OF
DOC SIFERS

I

Ef you don't know DOC SIFERS I'll
jes argy, here and now,
You've bin a mighty little while
about here, anyhow!
'Cause Doc he's rid these roads and woods--
er _swum_ 'em, now and then--
And practised in this neighberhood
sence hain't no tellin' when!

II

In radius o' fifteen mile'd,
all p'ints o' compass round,
No man er woman, chick er child,
er team, on top o' ground,
But knows _him_--yes, and got respects
and likin' fer him, too,
Fer all his so-to-speak dee-fects
o' genius showin' through!

III

Some claims he's absent-minded; some
has said they wuz afeard
To take his powders when he come
and dosed 'em out, and 'peared
To have his mind on somepin' else--
like County Ditch, er some
New way o' tannin' mussrat-pelts,
er makin' butter come.

[Illustration]

IV

He's cur'ous--they hain't no mistake
about it!--but he's got
Enough o' extry brains to make
a _jury_--like as not.
They's no _describin'_ Sifers,--fer,
when all is said and done,
He's jes _hisse'f Doc Sifers_--ner
they hain't no other one!

V

Doc's allus sociable, polite,
and 'greeable, you'll find--
Pervidin' ef you strike him right
and nothin' on his m