EUGENE FIELD.
STEVENSON'S BIRTHDAY.
"How I should like a birthday!" said the child,
"I have so few, and they so far apart."
She spoke to Stevenson--the Master smiled--
"Mine is to-day; I would with all my heart
That it were yours; too many years have I!
Too swift they come, and all too swiftly fly"
So by a formal deed he there conveyed
All right and title in his natal day,
To have and hold, to sell or give away,--
Then signed, and gave it to the little maid.
Joyful, yet fearing to believe too much,
She took the deed, but scarcely dared unfold.
Ah, liberal Genius! at whose potent touch
All common things shine with transmuted gold!
A day of Stevenson's will prove to be
Not part of Time, but Immortality.
KATHERINE MILLER.
A MODEST WIT.
I learned "A Modest Wit" as a reading-lesson when I was a child. It has
clung to me and so I cling to it. It is just as good as it ever was. It
is a sharp thrust at power that depends on externalities.
Pages:
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184