He asked if she ever could love him. 
    She answered him, no, on the spot. 
  He asked if she ever could love him. 
    She assured him again she could not.

  He asked if she ever could love him. 
    She laughed till his blushes he hid. 
  He asked if she ever could love him. 
    By God, she admitted she did.

Gamaliel Bradford.

From “Shadow Verses.”

STAND FORTH!

The human spirit can triumph over difficulties, as flowers bloom along the edge of the Alpine snow.

Stand forth, my soul, and grip thy woe, Buckle the sword and face thy foe.  What right hast thou to be afraid When all the universe will aid?  Ten thousand rally to thy name, Horses and chariots of flame.  Do others fear?  Do others fail? My soul must grapple and prevail.  My soul must scale the mountainside And with the conquering army ride—­ Stand forth, my soul!

  Stand forth, my soul, and take command. 
  ’Tis I, thy master, bid thee stand. 
  Claim thou thy ground and thrust thy foe,
  Plead not thine enemy should go. 
  Let others cringe!  My soul is free,
  No hostile host can conquer me. 
  There lives no circumstance so great
  Can make me yield, or doubt my fate. 
  My soul must know what kings have known. 
  Must reach and claim its rightful throne—­
  Stand forth, my soul!

  I ask no truce, I have no qualms,
  I seek no quarter and no alms. 
  Let those who will obey the sod,
  My soul sprang from the living God. 
  ’Tis I, the king, who bid thee stand;
  Grasp with thy hand my royal hand—­
  Stand forth!

Angela Morgan.

From “The Hour Has Struck.”

[Illustration:  WALT MASON]

LIONS AND ANTS

Once a hunter met a lion near the hungry critter’s lair, and the way that lion mauled him was decidedly unfair; but the hunter never whimpered when the surgeons, with their thread, sewed up forty-seven gashes in his mutilated head; and he showed the scars in triumph, and they gave him pleasant fame, and he always blessed the lion that had camped upon his frame.  Once that hunter, absent minded, sat upon a hill of ants, and about a million bit him, and you should have seen him dance!  And he used up lots of language of a deep magenta tint, and apostrophized the insects in a style unfit to print.  And it’s thus with worldly troubles; when the big ones come along, we serenely go to meet them, feeling valiant, bold and strong, but the weary little worries with their poisoned stings and smarts, put the lid upon our courage, make us gray, and break our hearts.

Walt Mason.

From “Walt Mason, His Book.”

LIFE, NOT DEATH