Part 4 (2/2)

I bring you a prairie greeting Crested with sunlight sheen, A picture of mountains rising To snow-capped heights of green; A call from the happy home-land Where human hearts beat warm, Where western corn-fields beckon And shelter from life's storm.

London, thy heart of riches Hath the pulse-beat of unrest, Where the many know no shelter, Where the babe weeps at the breast All bared to the winter s.h.i.+ver, Where the hearth-fire, cold and dead, Is darkened by the shadow And Shapes of the underfed.

Oh, the hopeless, heavy-burdened Bearers of woe and pain,-- Mere human stones in the highway Of London's greed and gain.

There weeps the child whom sadness And want have made their own; There weeps the old, whom gladness Is a stranger, and unknown.

Oh, come to the land of Plenty Where the gates swing open, wide; Where all mankind stand equal---- Where toil is a boast--a pride: Where the silken palm clasps the h.o.r.n.y hand When the long day's work is done, Where new life is born in the growing corn In the land of the Setting Sun.

NOTE.--Written in January, 1907, after seeing 700 men and women fed by Charity on the Thames embankment as ”Big Ben” struck ONE A. M.

JIM

[Ill.u.s.tration: WHEN I MET WITH JIM ALONG THE DAWSON TRAIL]

JIM

'Twas th' days of th' stampede--I was of th' hobo breed---- When I met with Jim along th' Dawson trail; F'r Bonanza I was strikin'; an' Jim? well, he was hikin'

Along th' road t' Anywhere--Jerusalam or jail.

Seemed t' me how all th' people had got soured in his steeple, But for wimmin most of all he'd bitter thoughts; But we got on quite congenial, him a gen'leman--me menial, And I got t' kind of likin' Jim----in spots!

But he wouldn't stick t' minin'. He was always drunk an' whinin'; An' th' boys was glad the day he quit th' camp; Next I see him with th' crowd down at Dawson, an' I 'lowed I never see a bigger, low-down scamp.

Was he single? Was he marri'd? I dunno', but sure he carried A little bit of locket on his breast, And onct I see him open it--but that was in a dopin' fit---- An' I laugh'd t' see Jim's mouth ag'in it pressed!

But a fella' will act loony when he's full an' feelin' spoony, Howsumever, Jim an' me went differ'nt ways; Me an' th' boys with pans a-was.h.i.+n' cricks on old Bonanza, An' when I met with Jim ag'in 'twas after many days.

Bad hootch an' rotten food fetched th' scurvy quick an' good, An' tho' I'd made my millions it didn't help me out; I was side-tracked by th' fever, in th' hands of G.o.d's Receiver, An' th' s.e.xton he most had me b' th' snout!

But them dandy little Sisters, them as cooked us with the'r blisters, Made us swaller swill we hated ”'cos th' Doctor said 'twas good”; One I liked called ”Sister Mary”--she was tiny as a Fairy-- 'Twas a sin to hide her beauty anunder a black hood.

Her face, tho' never smilin', had a look that was beguilin'; Her blue eyes they would wander far away, Jes' as if her heart was crawlin' to some Voice as was a-callin': ”MARY, LITTLE MARY!” night an' day.

This was my fool-brain a-ravin'; I couldn't be behavin'

For th' fever to my guts was eatin' in; But her hand upon th' pillo' was like foam upon th' billo', When she spoke t' us of One who pardon'd sin.

Lord, how th' fever got 'em! Lord, how th' Doctors fought 'em!

How them Sisters stood th' racket night an' day: Talk of Angils? Up in heaven don't believe as you'd find Seven Could beat them a-makin' plasters, or beat 'em on the Pray!

Well, one mornin' when I waken I see th' next bed taken By a feller, as was ravin' like a loon; Sich a face! All hair an' blotches (th' kind th' fever scotches)---- An' I says, says I: ”His Nibs'll ketch you soon!”

If they'd fine-tooth-combed creation f'r my personal elation To rake in a friend an' leave him lyin' there, Why, they couldn't a-done better with a Dawson lawyer's letter, F'r'twas JIM beneath th' blotches an' th' hair!

He was ravin', he was mutterin'; he was swearin', he was stutterin'; Sister Mary trippin' round him like a little drift o' snow, An' she hovered as a dove might with flutterin' wings of white light, So softly that you'd wonder did she come or did she go?

<script>