Page:In the dozy hours, and other papers.djvu/222

 208 sings, but of one half of it alone. No troublesome flutter of petticoats disturbs his serene meditations; no echo of passion haunts his placid verse. Even in his opening stanzas on "The Child," there is no allusion to any mother. The infant appears to have come into life after the fashion of Pallas Athene, and upon the father only depends its future weal or woe. The teacher apparently confines his labors to little boys; the preacher has a congregation of men; the reformer, the scholar, the citizen, the friend, all dwell in a cool masculine world, where the seductive voice of womankind never insinuates itself to the endangering of sober and sensible behavior. This enforced absence of "The Eternal Feminine" is more striking when we approach the realms of art. Does the painter desire subjects for his brush?

are considered amply sufficient for his needs. Does the sculptor ask for models? They are presented him in generous abundance.

"Crowned heroes of the early age,

Chieftain and soldier, senator and sage;