6. What spirit is noticeable in stanza 9?

7. What has been done in stanza 10?

8. How are these dead embalmed?

9. Explain "dear as the blood ye gave."

10. How does the close differ from the opening stanza?

11. Why is the spot where Valor sleeps "hallowed"?

12. To what does he refer in the first line of the last stanza? 13. What is a deathless song?

14. How can it be told by voiceless stone?

REFERENCES

SCOTT: Soldier, Rest. How Sleep the Brave.
WORDSWORTH: Character of the Happy Warrior.
BOKER: Dirge for a Soldier.

CAMPBELL: Hohenlinden. The Soldier's Dream.
CLOUGH: Say Not the Struggle Naught Availeth.
STORY: Io Victis.

BYRON: On the Star of "The Legion of Honor.”
LONG: The Capitol at Washington.

LOVELACE: To Lucasta.

RILEY: The Silent Victors.

TIMROD: At Magnolia Cemetery.

J. C. ZEDLITZ: The Midnight Review.
BAYARD TAYLOR: A Song in Camp.
BRYANT: The Battlefield.

W. G MCKABE: Christmas Night of '62.

NO LAND LIKE OURS

There is no other land like thee,
No dearer shore.

Thou art the shelter of the free
The home, the port of liberty,
Thou hast been, and shalt ever be
Till time is o'er.

-James Gates Percival

THE BLIND MEN AND THE
ELEPHANT

JOHN G. SAXE

THE spectacle of six blind men going to see an ele

phant is sufficient to arouse keen interest at once. They are learned men of Indostan, wise men of the far East. Each will observe what he can concerning the strange animal, then they will compare notes. Strangely enough, each will describe the elephant as his observation and experience suggest. If differences of opinion arise, each wise man will stoutly insist that he is right, for his opinion is based on experience.

The poet has left it for us to see through this odd picture the great world of observing and contending souls, each deciding the great questions of life in the light of the little truth he has, and loath to accept the experience of others. The slave owner and slave trader contended that God designed the black race to be a race of slaves. The brewer and saloon-keeper contend against prohibition and abstinence. Anarchist and patriot are at sword's point. Religious denominations with common aims are at variance with each other. Political parties are antagonistic. Men have even burned their fellow-men at the stake in the name of the God of Love

they all serve. Each looks at life his own way, and regards as God's will what he would fain believe. So in this simple picture of these contending blind men, we see the great world in miniature. From the deeper

meaning of the picture, we get these truths among others which crowd themselves upon us:

(1) Two men may differ from each other and both be honest.

(2) "We would love each other better

If we only understood."

THE BLIND MEN AND THE ELEPHANT

It was six men of Indostan,
To learning much inclined,
Who went to see the elephant

(Though all of them were blind),

That each by observation

Might satisfy his mind.

The first approached the elephant,
And, happening to fall
Against his broad and sturdy side,
At once began to bawl:
"Why, bless me! but the elephant
Is very like a wall!"

The second, feeling of the tusk

Cried: "Ho! what have we here,
So very round, and smooth, and sharp?
To me 't is very clear,

This wonder of an elephant

Is very like a spear!"

The third approached the animal,
And, happening to take

The squirming trunk within his hands,
Thus boldly up he spake :

"I see," quoth he, "the elephant
Is very like a snake!"

The fourth reached out his eager

And felt about the knee:

hand

"What most this wondrous beast is like

Is very plain," quoth he:

""T is clear enough the elephant

Is very like a tree!"

The fifth, who chanced to touch the ear,
Said: "E'en the blindest man

Can tell what this resembles most;
Deny the fact who can,

This marvel of an elephant
Is very like a fan!"

The sixth no sooner had begun
About the beast to grope,
Than, seizing on the swinging tail
That fell within his scope,
"I see," quoth he, "the elephant
Is very like a rope!"

And so these men of Indostan
Disputed loud and long,
Each in his own opinion.

Exceeding stiff and strong;
Though each was partly in the right,
And all were in the wrong.

SUGGESTIVE EXERCISES

1. Why are learned men chosen?

2. In what sense did these blind men go to see the elephant?

3. Explain the word observation as used in the first stanza. 4. State the experience each man had with the elephant and tell the conclusion each drew.

5. Why did each hold so strongly to his own opinion?

6. In what sense were all in the wrong?

7. How, then, are their differences of opinion to be explained?

8. Give instances from life in which differences of opinion are similarly formed and explained.

9. What truths of life are here illustrated?

REFERENCES

WHITTIER: Snow Bound "Inner Springs We May Not Know." KIPLING: L'Envoi. The Bell Buoy.

LOWELL: Yussouf.

EMERSON: The Mountain and the Squirrel.

SARAH HALE: It Snows.

NONE OF HIS BEAUTY IS WASTED*

For none of His beauty is wasted; the song-birds that sweetly warble

Unheard in the pristine forest, the flowers that lavishly blossom

On mountain heights far from the haunts of men, the bed of the ocean

Strewn with rich pearls and sea-mosses, and likewise the vast boundless space

Of the universe radiant all over with splendors bright

tinted

These, yea! all these and more, in His own good time shall

contribute

Their meed of the grandeur that makes up His kingdom

of glory

William A. McKeever.

* From "The Pioneer,” by William A. McKeever, and used by the courteous permission of the author.