BOOKS AND AUTHORS.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1162, 24 June 1911, Page 9

BOOKS AND AUTHORS.

VERSES OLD AND NEW. SPRING, THE TRAVELLING MAN. It is Spring, the Travelling Man, has been here, Hero in tho glen; He must have passed by in the grey of the dawn, When only the robin aud wren Were awake, Watching out with their bright little eyes In the midst of the brake. The rabbits, maybe, heard him pass, Stepping light on the grass, Whistling careless and gay at the break o' the day. Then the blackthorn to give him delight Put on raiment of white. And all for his sake The gorse on the hill where he rested an hour Grew bright with a splendour of flower. Jly grief! that I was not aware Of himself being there;. It,is I would havo given my dower To have seen hiru set forth Whistling careless and gay in the grey of the morn, By gorse bush and fraughan and thorn, On his way to the north. —W. M. Letts, in tho "Spectator." A SERMON. ' (A Fishing .ViHaßo in Wexford.) The fish have left the coast a whilo ago, Bad luck it is that's in it, faith! that's so, ■ For there's little you can win When you'll scarcely see a fin, An' when food.is dear to buy and wages low. lis'what his Eeverence says to us this -day,' ':'..•■ "Need yous. wonder that the fish are gone away? 'Twas the sights they saw on shore .- That bad scared-them more and more. And so hadn't they a right to swim away? '"Twas the couples that were gaming on , the sands, Linking arms they were, maybe, or squcezin' hands, Now fhero's not a herring sprat That could stand the like o' that— So they're seeking for more christianable . lands. "But let yous mend your manners now," says he, "Let the lads all' walk together decently. Let the girls not be so bold, An' maybe beforo you're old The: fish will throve! back across tho • •; -sea." —W.M. Letts, in tho "Westminster Gazette." INTROVERSION. What do you seek within, O soul, my Brother? /What do you seek within? I seek a Life that shall never die, Soiuo havou to win From mortality. What do you find within, O Soul, my Brother? What do you find within? I find great quiet where no noises come. Without, tho world's, din: Silence in my home. Whom do you find within, O soul, my Brother? Whom do you find within I find a friend that in secret came: • • •■ His scarred'hands v;ithin • He shields' a faint flame. Whak„w : ould you,_,do._,within, .0 soul,..my ' Brother? What would you do within? Bar door aud window that uona may see: That alone- we...m.ay. be... , -~ ('Alone! face to face, In. that flame-lit place!) When first we begin To speak one with another. —Evelyn Underbill, iu the "Nation."

A CAROL FOR CHRISTMASTIDE. The Ox he openeth wide the Doore, '■• And from the Snowe he calls her inne, And he hath seen .her Smile therefor, Our Ladye without Sinnel Now soone from Sleep. A Starre shall leap, And soone arrive both King and Hinde: Amen, Amen; But O, the Place co'd I but finde! The Ox hath hush'd his.yoyce and bent Trewe eyes of Pitty ore the Mow, And on his lovelli neck, forspent, The Blessed la3-es her Brov.e. Around her feet Full warm and Sweete His fcowerie Breath doth meekly dwell: Amen, Amen: But sore am I with Vaine Travel! The Ox is host in Judah stall And host of more than onelle one, For close she gathereth withal Our Lordo her littel Sonne. Glad Hinde and King Their Gyfto may bring, But wo'd to-night my Teares were there, Amen, Amen: Between her Bosom and His linyre!