Part 60 (2/2)

THE ANTI-TRUST CLAM

For _McClure's Magazine_

The clam that once, on Jersey's banks, Was like the man who dug it, free, Now slave-like thro' the market clanks In chains of corporate tyranny.

The Standard Fish-Trust of New York Holds every clam-bank in control; And like base Beef and menial Pork, The free-born Clam has lost its soul.

No more the bivalve treads the sands In freedom's rapture, free from guilt: It follows now the harsh commands Of Morgiman and Rockabilt.

Rise, freemen, rise! Your wrath is just!

Call on the Sherman Act to dam The floods of this devouring Trust, And liberate the fettered Clam.

II

THE WHITMANIAC CLAM

For the _Bookman_

Not Dante when he wandered by the river Arno, Not Burns who plowed the banks and braes of bonnie Ayr, Not even Shakspere on the sh.o.r.es of Avon,--ah, no!

Not one of those great bards did taste true Poet's Fare.

But Whitman, loafing in Long Island and New Jersey, Found there the sustenance of mighty ode and psalm, And while his rude emotions swam around in verse, he Fed chiefly on the wild, impa.s.sioned, sea-born clam.

Thus in his work we feel the waves' bewildering motion, And winds from mighty mud-flats, weird and wild: His clam-filled bosom answered to the voice of ocean, And rose and fell responsively with every tide.

III

IL MERCATORE ITALIANO DELLA CLAMMA

For the _Century Magazine_

”Clam O! Fres' Clam!” How strange it sounds and sweet, The Dago's cry along the New York street!

”Dago” we call him, like the thoughtless crowd; And yet this humble man may well be proud To hail from Petrarch's land, Boccaccio's home,-- Firenze, Gubbio, Venezia, Rome,-- From fair Italia, whose enchanted soil Transforms the lowly cotton-seed to olive-oil.

To me his chant, with alien accent sung, Brings back an echo of great Virgil's tongue: It seems to cry against the city's woe, In liquid Latin syllables,--_Clamo_!

As thro' the crowded street his cart he jams And cries aloud, ah, think of more than clams!

Receive his secret plaint with pity warm, And grant Italia's plea for Tenement-House Reform!

IV

THE SOCIAL CLAM

For the _Smart Set_

Fair Phyllis is another's bride: Therefore I like to sit beside Her at a very smart set dinner, And whisper love, and try to win her.

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