LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. §{|ap. ©npijrig]^ !f c^-cki ShelfJJAf UNITED STATES OF A?iEEICA, Songs of Seven. BUT I'LL LOVE HIM MORE, MORE THAN E ER WIFE LOVED BEFORE, BE THE DAYS DARK OR BRIGHT." Collection of " Masterpieces ' J EAN INGELO W Songs of Seven With nitiiierous orii^i/ial illustrations by KIRK ESTE !£! ^^rc, j^^ HliV^^T-^ NEW YORK Frederick A. Stokes Company PUBLISHERS Copyright^ 1894, by Frede7-ick A. Stokes Company '^-'hvrr/ Seven Times One. Ex- ultation. ■^^^^- . -^^ VE SAID MY SEVEN TIMES OVER AND OVE] SEVEN TIMES ONE ARE SEVEN." Songs of Seven Seven Times One. Exulta- tion. There's no dew left on the daisies and clover, There's no rain left in heaven : I've said my "seven times" over and over, Seven times one are seven. I am old, so old, I can write a letter ; Mv birthdav lessons are done ; SONGS OF SEVEN, The lambs play always, they know no better ; They are only one times one. \ m O MOON : IN THE NIGHT I HAVE SEEN YOt' SAILING AND SHINING SO ROUND AND LOW." SONGS OF SEVEN, moon ! in the night I have seen you sailing And shining so roinid and low ; You were bright ! ah, bright I but your light is failing, — You are nothing now but a bow. You moon, have you done some- thing wrong in heaven That God has hidden your face ? 1 hope if you have you will soon be forgiven, And shine again in your place. SONGS OF SEVEN rr5?^ er- s^r^-v^ 9^' 'V'l-r.v. O VELVET BEE, YOU KE A DUSTV FELLOW. O velvet bee, you're a dusty fel- low, You've powdered your legs with gold ! O brave marsh marybuds, rich and yellow, Give me your money to hold ! O columbine, open your folded wrapper, Where two twin turtle-doves dwell ! 17 :<^m^. m O BRA\E MAK.SH.M.\R\ );!_ |)s.' S (1 N G S OF SEVEN. cuckoopint, toll me the purple clapper That hangs in your clear green bell! And show me your nest with the young ones in it ; I will not steal them away ; 1 am old ! you may trust me, lin- net, linnet — I am seven times one to-day. Seven Times Two. Ro- mance. I WISH AND I WISH THAT THE SPRING WOULD GO FASTER, NOR LONG SUMMER BIDE SO LATE." Songs of Seven. Seven Times Two. Romance. You bells in the steeple, ring, ring out your changes. How many soever they be. And let the brown meadow-lark's note as he ranges Come over, come over to me. Yet birds' clearest carol by fall or by swelling No magical sense conveys, i N G S OF SEVEN, And bells have forgotten their old art of telling The fortune of future days. " Turn again, turn again," once they rang cheerily, While a boy listened alone ; Made his heart yearn again, mus- ing so wearily All by himself on a stone. Poor bells ! I forgive you ; your good days are over. And mine, they are yet to be ; No listening, no longing shall aught, aught discover You leave the storv to me. CSS" MADE HIS HEART VEAKX AGAIN, MUSING SO WEARILY ALL BY HIMSELF ON A STONE.'' SONGS OF SEVEN The foxglove shoots out of the green matted heather Preparing her hoods of snow ; She was idle, and slept till the sunshiny weather : O, children take long to grow. I wish and I wish that the spring would go faster, Nor long summer bide so late ; And I could grow on like the foxglove and aster, For some things are ill to wait. 1 wait for the day when dear hearts shall discover. While dear hands are laid on my head ; THE FOXGLOVE SHOOTS OUT OF THE GREEN MAT- TED HEATHER. ,.'r' ^ a■ f! SONGS OF S E \' P: N . " The child is a woman, the book may close over, For all the lessons are said." I wait for my story — the birds cannot sing it, Not one, as he sits on the tree ; The bells cannot ring it, but long years, O bring it ! Such as I wish it to be. 39 THE BELLS CANNOT RING IT. Seven Times Three. Love. I LEANED OUT OF WIN- DOW, I SMELT THE WHITE CLOVER, DARK, DARK WAS THE GARDEN, I SAW NOT THE GATE. '"iVv ^- Songs of Seven. Seven Times Three. Love. I LEANED out of wiiidow, I smclt the white clover, Dark, dark was the garden, I saw not the gate ; '' Now, if there be footsteps, he comes, my one lover — Hush, nightingale, hush ! O sweet nightingale, wait Till I listen and hear If a step draweth near, For mv love he is late ! SONGS OF SEVEN " The skies in the darkness stoop nearer and nearer, A cluster of stars hangs Hke fruit in the tree, The fall of the water comes sweeter, comes clearer : To what art thou listening, and what dost thou see ? Let the star-clusters grow. Let the sweet waters flow, And cross quickly to me. " You night moths that hover where honey brims over From sycamore blossoms, or settle or sleep ; You glowworms, shine out, and the pathway discover SONGS OF SEVEN. To him that comes darkhng along the rough steep. Ah, my sailor, make haste. For the time runs to waste, And my love lieth deep — " Too deep for swift telling; and yet, my one lover, I've conned thee an answer, it waits thee to-night." By the sycamore passed he, and through the white clover. Then all the sweet speech I had fashioned took flight ; But I'll love him more, more Than e'er wife loved before, Be the days dark or bright. BY THE SYCAMORE PASSED HE, AND THROUGH THE WHITE CLOVER. i A fj Seven Times Four. Maternity. :^^ HEIGH ho! daisies AND BUTTERCUPS." Songs of Seven. Seven Times Four. Mater- nity. Heigh ho ! daisies and butter- cups, Fair yellow daffodils, stately and tall ! When the wind wakes how they rock in the grasses, And dance with the cuckoo- buds slender and small ! Here's two bonny boys, and here's mother's own lasses Eager to gather them all. 63 SONGS OF SEVEN. Heigh ho ! daisies and butter- cups ! Mother shall thread them a daisy chain ; Sing them a song of the pretty hedge sparrow, That loved her brown little ones, loved them full fain ; Sing, " Heart, thou art wide though the house be but narrow " — Sing once, and sing it again. Heigh ho ! daisies and butter- cups, Sweet wagging cowslips they bend and they bow ; 6s GONGS OF SEVEN. A ship sails afar over warm ocean waters, And haply one musing cloth stand at her prow, O bonny brown sons, and O sweet little dair..;hters, ]\Iaybe he thinks on you now ! Heigh ho ! daisies and butter- cups, Fair yellow daffodils, stately and tall ! A sunshiny world full of laughter and leisure, And fresh hearts unconscious of sorrow and thrall ! Send down on their pleasure smiles passing its measure, God that is over us all I 67 Seven Times Five, WicloAvliood. 1 SHALL NOT D!E, BUT LIVE FORLORE. -*:v Songs of Seven. Seven Times Five. Widow HOOD. I SLEEP and rest, my heart makes moan Before I am well awake ; " Let me bleed ! O let me alone, Since I must not break ! " SONC. S OF SEVEN. For children wake, though fath- ers sleep With a stone at ,^' foot and head : sleepless God, forever keep, I, Keep both living -■ though fathers SLEEl'." and dead ! 1 lift mine eyes, and what to see And a world happy and fair ! I have not wished it to mourn with me — Comfort is not there. O what anear but golden brooms, But a waste of reedy rills ! 77 SONGS OF SEVEN. what afar but tlie tine glooms On the rare bhje hills ! 1 shall not die, but live forlore — How bitter it is to part ! to meet thee, my love, once more ! O my heart, my heart ! No more to hear, no more to see ! O that an echo might wake And waft one note of thy psalm to me Ere my heart-strings break ! 1 should know it how faint soe'er, And W'ith angel voices blent ; SONGS OF SEVEN, O once to feel thy spirit anear ; I could be content ! Or once between the gates of gold, While an entering angel trod, But once — thee sitting to behold On the hills of God ! Seven Times Six. Giving in Marriage. Songs of Seven. Seven Times Six. Giving in Marriage. To bear, to nurse, to rear, To watch, and then to lose : To see my bright ones disappear, Drawn up like morning dews — To bear, to nurse, to rear, To watch, and then to lose : This have I done when God drew near Among his own to choose. SONGS OF SE\EN. To hear, to heed, to wed, And with thy lord depart In tears that he, as soon as shed. Will let no longer smart. — To hear, to heed, to wed, This while thou didst I smiled. For now it was not God who said, " Mother, give me thy child." O fond, O fool, and blind ! To God I gave with tears ; But when a man like grace would find. My soul put by her fears — O fond, O fool, and blind ! God guards in happier spheres ; 87 SONGS OF SEVE That man will guard where he did bind Is hope for unknown years. To hear, to heed, to wed, Fair lot that maidens choose. Thy mother's tenderest words are said, Thy face no more she views : Thy mother's lot, my dear, She doth in naught accuse ; Her lot to bear, to nurse, to rear. To love — and then to lose. 8g Seven Times Seven. Longing for Home. NAY, BUT THE PORT WHERE MY SAILOR WENT, AND THE LAND WHERE MY NESTLINGS BE. '^< Songs of Seven. Seven Times Seven. Long- ing FOR Home. I. A song of a boat : — There was once a boat on a billow : Lightly she rocked to her port remote, And the foam was white in her wake like snow, And her frail mast bowed when the breeze would blow, LIGHTLV SHE ROCKED TO HER PORT REMOTE " SONGS OF SEVEN. And bent like a wand of wil- low. II. I shaded mine eyes one day when a boat Went curtseying over the billow, I marked her course till a danc- ing mote She faded out on the moonlit foam. And I stayed behind in the dear loved home ; And my thoughts all day were about the boat And my dreams upon the pillow. \ I I I MARKED HER COURSE TILL A DANCING MOTE SHE FADED OUT ON THE MOONLIT FOAM." N G S OF SEVEN. III. I pray you hear my song of a boat, For it is but short : — My boat you shall find none fairer afloat, In river or port. Long I looked out for the lad she bore, On the open desolate sea. And I think he sailed to the heavenly shore. For he came not back to me — Ah me ! SONGS OF SEVEN IV. A song of a nest : — There was once a nest in a hollow : i A ',, f- ^ " I PKAY YOr HEAR MY SONG OF A NEST, FUR IT IS NOT LONG." Down in the mosses and knot- grass pressed, Soft and warm, and full to the brim — 107 SONGS OF S E \' E X Vetches leaned over it purple and dim, With buttercup buds to follow. V. I pray you hear my song of a nest, For it IS not long : — You shall never light, in a sum- mer quest. The bushes among — Shall never light on a prouder sitter, A fairer nestful, nor ever know A softer sound than their tender twitter, That wind-like did come and go. IC9 SONGS OF SEVEN VI. I had a nestful once of my own, Ah, happy, happy I ! Right dearly I loved them : but when they were grown v"- ^ V- ^, "O, ONE AFTER ONE THEY FLEW AWAY FAR UP TO THE HEAVENLY BLUE." They spread out their wings to fly- O, one after one they flew away Far up to the heavenly blue. S O N G S OF S E \' E N . To the better country, the upper day. And — I wish I was going- too. VII. I pray you, what is the nest to me, My empty nest ? And what is the shore where I stood to see My boat sail down to the west ? Can I call that home where I anchor yet. Though my good man has sailed ? Can I call that home where my nest was set, SONGS OF S E \- E N . Now all its hope hath failed ? Nay, but the port where my sailor went, And the land where my nest- lings be : There is the home where my thoughts are sent, The only home for me — Ah me ! THE END. COLLECTION OF MASTER- PIECES. This Collection of certain of the most successful and best-loved works by vari- ous authors has been entered upon by its publishers with the intention cf making it as exquisite and perfect in form as po^^sible. Each volume contains a large number of original illustrations by well- known artists, made especially for the Collection, and printed with the utmost care. The "typographical details a-e some- what in the best modern French style, and the paper is of the highest grade, and has been manufactured especially for this Collection, which is issued in a variety of beautiful bindings, to corre- spond with the dainty interiors of the books. The following volumes are ready, each of which can be had in either of the bindings described : Masterpieces of Prose and Verse. " Selections from Point Lace and Dia- monds." Baker. Illust7-ait'd by C. Moore-Smith . "A Child's Dream of a Star." Dick- ens. Illustrated by Elizabetli S. T ticker. " The Day Dream." Tenxvsok. Illus- trated by jr. St. John Harper. " Evangeline." Longfellow. Illus- trated by Charles Howard Johnson. "Thanatopsis." Bryant. Illustrated by Coriuin Kiiaj>p Linson. "Songs of Seven." Ingelow. Illus- trated by Kirk Este. "Violet" bindinc^, with backs of can- vas, richly ornamented in gold, and with outer sides illuminated with design of purple violets, with gold background. Gilt top. In a box. Per volume, .... 75 cents. Full dull brown cloth, or full white cloth, with artistic ornamentation in gold. Gilt top. In a bo.x. Per volume, .... 75 cents. Half calf. Gilt top. In a bo.x. Per volume, . . . . $1.50. Limp calf. Red-under-gold edges. In a box. Per volume, .... $2.00. Other volumes in preparation. ' Specimen Pages Tlianatopsis." Bry- ant. Colh'ction of " Masterpiecesy T H A N A T O Nor in the embrace of ocean, shall exist Thy image. Earth, that nour- ished thee, shall claim Thy growth, to be resolved to earth aeain. THE SLUGGISH CLOU, WHICH THE RUDE SWAIN TURNS WITH HIS SHARE, AND TREADS UPON." i ^ i -m Specimen Pages 'Evangeline." Lun fellow. Collec'ion of " Masterpieces'''' I'ATIEN-CE ! ' THE PRIEST WOULD SAY. 34 EVANGELINE. Silenced, but not convinced, when the story was ended, the bhicksmith Stood Hke a man who fain would speak, but findeth no language ; And all his thoughts congealed into lines on his face, as the vapors Freeze in fantastic shapes on the win- dow-panes in the winter. Then Evangeline lighted the brazen lamp on the table. WROTE WITH A STEADY HAND. HUNTING FOR FURS IN THE FORESTS.