Page:The poems of Edmund Clarence Stedman, 1908.djvu/47

ALICE OF MONMOUTH 5

How many are there of us, in this

Discordant social wilderness,

Whose thriftiest scions the power gain,

Through meet conditions of sun and rain,

To yield, on the fairest blossoming shoot,

A mellow harvest of perfect fruit?

Fashioned after so rare a type,

How should his life grow full and ripe,

There, in the passionless haunts of Peace,

Through trade, and tillage, and wealth's increase?

6

But at his manor-house he dwelt,

And royally bore the name Van Ghelt;

Nor found a larger part to play

Than such as a county magnate may:

Ruling the hustings as he would,

Lord of the rustic neighborhood;

With potent wishes and quiet words

Holding an undisputed sway.

The broadest meadows, the fattest herds,

The fleetest roadsters, the warmest cheer,—

These were old Hendrick's many a year.

Daughters unto his hearthstone came,

And a son—to keep the ancient name.

7

Often, perchance, the old man's eye

From a seaward casement would espy,

Scanning the harborage in the bay,

A ship which idly at anchor lay;

Watching her as she rose and fell,

Up and down, with the evening swell,

Her cordage slackened, her sails unbent,

And all her proud life somnolent. 17