Page:The Spell of the Yukon and Other Verses.djvu/42



And though grim as hell the worst is, can you round it off with curses? Then hearken to the Wild—it's wanting you.

Have you suffered, starved and triumphed, groveled down, yet grasped at glory, Grown bigger in the bigness of the whole? "Done things" just for the doing, letting babblers tell the story, Seeing through the nice veneer the naked soul? Have you seen God in His splendors, heard the text that nature renders? (You'll never hear it in the family pew.) The simple things, the true things, the silent men who do things— Then listen to the Wild—it's calling you.

They have cradled you in custom, they have primed you with their preaching, They have soaked you in convention through and through; They have put you in a showcase; you're a credit to their teaching—