strongest reef.

In all this she saw a beau

tiful symbol of the final triumph of right and righteousness in human life.

WAVE AND TIDE*

On the far reef the breakers
Recoil in shattered foam,
Yet still the sea behind them
Urges its forces home;
Its chant of triumph surges
Through all the thunderous din-
The wave may break in failure,
But the tide is sure to win!

The reef is strong and cruel;
Upon its jagged wall
One wave-a score- -a hundred,
Broken and beaten fall;
Yet in defeat they conquer,
The sea comes flooding in-
Wave upon wave is routed,
But the tide is sure to win!

O mighty sea! thy message
In clanging spray is cast;
Within God's plan of progress
It matters not at last
How wide the shores of evil,
How strong the reefs of sin-
The wave may be defeated,

But the tide is sure to win!

-Priscilla Leonard.

*From The Outlook, August, 1910. Used by the courteous

permission of The Outlook Company.

NOTES

1. Bring in pictures of sea scenes which show the "breakers." 2. Bring in other sayings which have the thought of "Try, try

again."

3. Tell of cases in which persons began works or projects and failed to finish them.

4. Tell of cases in which persons triumphed over great obstacles. 5. Reef. "A chain or range of rocks lying at or near the surface of the water." Coral reefs are familiar examples.

6. Breakers. A wave breaking into foam against the shore or on a rock or reef near the surface of the water.

7. Be prepared to give clear meanings of the following words and expressions: Wave, tide, reef, breakers, recoil, shattered foam, chant, surges, thunderous din, jagged wall, score, routed, clanging spray, progress, shores of evil, reefs of sin.

EXERCISES

1. What experience of the author evidently inspired this poem? 2. What contrast is given in the first four lines?

3. What is the sea's "Chant of Triumph"?

4. What is the meaning of "thunderous din"?

5. What sharp contrast in the last two lines of the first stanza?

6. In what sense does the wave "break in failure"?

7. In what sense do the waves "conquer" in "defeat"?

8. Why does the author speak of the spray as "clanging"?

9. What are "the shores of evil"?

10. What are "the reefs of sin"?

11. What in life corresponds to wave and tide?

12. What truth concerning "God's plan of progress" does the author discover?

ADDITIONAL READINGS

MASON: The Voyage.

PROCTER: The Sea.

HOLMES: The Sail. The Chambered Nautilus.

BURROUGHS: My Own Shall Come to Me.

WHITTIER: The Eternal Goodness.

LONGFELLOW: Psalm of Life. Excelsior.

BYRON: Overthrow of Belshazzar.

SILL: The Fool's Prayer.

KIPLING: The Recessional.

GREENE: The Baron's Last Banquet.

ARNOLD: Self-Dependence.

VAN DYKE: The Mansion.

HELEN KELLER: The Story of My Life.

THE EARTH AND MAN

A little sun, a little rain,

A soft wind blowing from the west-
And woods and fields are sweet again,
And warmth within the mountain's breast.

So simple is the earth we tread,

So quick with love and life her frame: Ten thousand years have dawned and fled, And still her magic is the same.

A little love, a little trust,

A soft impulse, a sudden dream-
And life as dry as desert dust

Is fresher than a mountain stream.

So simple is the heart of man,
So ready for new hope and joy:
Ten thousand years since it began
Have left it younger than a boy.

-Stopford A. Brooke.

ELEGY WRITTEN IN A COUNTRY

CHURCHYARD

THIS poem has been pronounced "the most

widely known poem in our language," a popularity due to "its interest in the lives of the poor, to its sympathy with their pleasures and realization of their hardships, and to its observation of the little things of nature." Love of nature and sympathy with common men fill every line. Gray got the setting of this poem from the scenes in and around Stoke Poges church, an ivy-covered building situated in a picturesque rural district not many miles from Windsor Castle, in England. He began the poem at the old church in 1742, continued it there a year later, but it was finally finished in Cambridge in 1750. He thus spent eight years "adding, taking away, polishing, and refining, until it (the poem) had become worthy, even in form, to be named among the great poems of the world."

The poem is a mournful, plaintive expression of grief at the passing away of the great class of unknown poor, with a clear, sweetly-sad note of praise for their homely virtues. It opens in dreamy, meditative mood, with an exquisite pic

ture of the scenes surrounding the old church, and, at the close, "drifts into an elegy on the writer, who becomes lost in the pathos of his own sad end." Thus through the personal feeling of mingled gloom and gladness he brings the hearts of all readers into sympathetic and abiding touch with the spirit of common life. This poem may well call us away from care-free, fruitless thinking and living, to face the deeper realities of life. The great heart of the world will always love the exquisite melody and beauty, the grandeur, the sweet sadness, and the deathless truths of these lines.

It was said of General Wolfe, that as he led the daring assault on Quebec in 1759, and as the boats were slowly drifting to the landing below the Heights of Abraham, he repeated in low tones to his officers the stanza,

"The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power, And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave, Awaits alike th' inevitable hour:

The paths of glory lead but to the grave."

Then he declared vehemently: "Gentlemen, I would rather be the author of that poem than take Quebec." He fell the next day, and died just as the shouts of the victory of his men reached his ear.