THE CHIEFTAIN'S DAUGHTER.

The heaven-kissed mountains smile on high-
The stream-clasped valleys smile below-
Smiles from the rock, the grove, the sky,

The lake's glassed deep, the river's flow.
There dwells a smile on the face of flowers,
There's joy in the play of the dallying leaves;
In this beautiful breathing world of ours

There's nought, save man, that pines and grieves.
Ay ! even a smile is forced from me;
And yet not one sweet smile from thee?

THE CHIEFTAIN'S DAUGHTER.

Pocahontas.

BY GEORGE P. MORRIS.

UPON the barren sand

A single captive stood,

Around him came, with bow and brand,
The red-men of the wood.

Like him of old, his doom he hears,

Rock-bound on ocean's rim :

The chieftain's daughter knelt in tears,
And breathed a prayer for him.

Ee*

313

314

THE CHIEFTAIN'S DAUGHTER.

Above his head in air,

The savage war-club swung;
The frantic girl, in wild despair,
Her arms about him flung.
Then shook the warriors of the shade,
Like leaves on aspen-limb,

Subdued by that heroic maid

Who breathed a prayer for him.

"Unbind him!" gasped the chief,
"It is your king's decree!"
He kissed away her tears of grief,
And set the captive free.

'Tis ever thus, when, in life's storm,
Hope's star to man grows dim,

An angel kneels in woman's form,

And breathes a prayer for him.

HAMPTON BEACH.

BY GEORGE LUNT.

"O mare, o litus, verum secretumque Museum, quam multa dictatis,— quam multa invenitis!"-PLINY.

AGAIN upon the sounding shore,
And oh how blest, again alone!
I could not bear to hear thy roar,
Thy deep, thy long majestic tone;
I could not bear to think that one

Could view with me thy swelling might,

And like a very stock or stone,

Turn coldly from the glorious sight,

And seek the idle world, to hate and fear and fight.

Thou art the same, eternal sea!

The earth hath many shapes and forms,

Of hill and valley, flower and tree;
Fields that the fervid noontide warms,
Or winter's rugged grasp deforms,
Or bright with autumn's golden store;
Thou coverest up thy face with storms,
Or smil'st serene,-but still thy roar

And dashing foam go up to vex the sea-beat shore.

316

HAMPTON BEACH.

I see thy heaving waters roll,

I hear thy stern uplifted voice,
And trumpet-like upon my soul
Falls the deep music of that noise
Wherewith thou dost thyself rejoice;
The ships, that on thy bosom play,
Thou dashest them about like toys,

And stranded navies are thy prey,

Strown on thy rock-bound coast, torn by the whirling spray.

As summer twilight soft and calm,
Or when in stormy grandeur drest,
Peals up to heaven the eternal psalm,
That swells within thy boundless breast;
Thy curling waters have no rest,

But day and night, the ceaseless throng

Of waves that wait thy high behest,

Speak out in utterance deep and strong,

And loud the craggy beach howls back their savage song.

Terrible art thou in thy wrath,—

Terrible in thine hour of glee,

When the strong winds, upon their path,

Bound o'er thy breast tumultuously,

And shout their chorus loud and free
To the sad sea-bird's mournful wail,
As heaving with the heaving sea,

HAMPTON BEACH.

The broken mast and shattered sail

Tell of thy cruel strength the lamentable tale.

Ay, 'tis indeed a glorious sight
To gaze upon thine ample face;
An awful joy, a deep delight!
I see thy laughing waves embrace
Each other in their frolic race;
I sit above the flashing spray,
That foams around this rocky base,

And, as the bright blue waters play,

317

Feel that my thoughts, my life, perchance are vain as they.

This is thy lesson, mighty sea!

Man calls the dimpled earth his own,
The flowery vale, the golden lea;

And on the wild gray mountain-stone
Claims nature's temple for his throne!
But where thy many voices sing

Their endless song, the deep, deep tone
Calls back his spirit's airy wing,

He shrinks into himself, where God alone is king!