Nature is magical, wayward, illusive—

Her goals set far beyond man's scant hour, But the human touch to the wistful human

Transcends the mark of her fateful power.

What beauty lurks in her smile to challenge

The curving lips for Love's wine out-thrust? Drink and forget in the cup of your LoverHuman to human as dust to dust!

Then the Wind shouted high "I ride forever!"
The stream replied, "I run to my river!"—

Sleep if

you will in our loveless chambers

Of sweet-mouthed mortals your dreams betide!"

She fled the forest-her deft feet escaping
Turned to her hearth-stone, her folly forsaking,
To claim the immortal, her hot heart freeing-
In the cup of her Lover to lose her being;
Her lips turned faint for his languorous kisses,
Her slight arms fain for his arms that cling,
Her hands outstretched to claim her fetters-
To weep and tremble nor care to sing.

Q

FLORENCE KIPER

UIET dead, whom others weep,
We have envy of thy sleep.
Dead in us is being's zest;

Easy would it be to rest.
Stooped so low are we by toil,
We are near the friendly soil.
Quiet dead, do seeds of spring
Ever stir thy slumbering?
Does the push of life anew
Wake in thee its yearnings too?
We would lie too deep and still
E'en to know the sentient thrill.
We would lie too still and deep
E'er to waken from our sleep.
Surely in the depths of earth
There is resting from rebirth.
Surely somewhere is there peace,
Where the tides of being cease.
Many have with life been blest.
Lord, Thy weary ask Thee rest.

A

CHARLES MARRIOTT

T first Earle found the acquaintance rather tiresome. Hutchinson made him feel that he talked too much and too loosely. Most of the other members of the club were in business or the solider professions; doctors, lawyers, engineers and a few civil servants. Younger than most, Earle was most nearly connected with the liberal arts. Under a brilliant chief he was already being talked about as an architect of real originality, and his occasional essays and poems were eagerly welcomed by a small circle of readers. In the somewhat heavy atmosphere of the club he stood for idealism. If the other men thought him erratic they did not complain because, relegating him to the ornamental side of life, almost as if he had been a woman, they expected him to be erratic. None of them was near enough to his interests to tackle him on his own ground. Coming in tired and bored from their humdrum occupations they liked to hear Earle talking. He had been talking about the subject of affinities when Hutchinson, who had never spoken to him before, and was apparently not listening, put down his newspaper and said: "That's non

sense." The immediate occasion of the remark was an illustration which Earle had drawn from chemistry, and in the little good-natured argument which followed he gathered that Hutchinson was professionally connected with the subject. The point, which was not essential, had to be yielded to the authority; and Hutchinson, picking up his newspaper again, appeared to take no further interest in the discussion.

After that Earle had the uneasy feeling that Hutchinson might come down upon him at any moment. He was not a humbug, but the good-humored indulgence of the other men toward a point of view they did not profess to understand encouraged him to be careless and extravagant in his statements. He had enough sense of humor not to resent criticism; indeed, he appreciated the advantage of being made to pick his words and illustrations with care; but he had the talkative man's fear of

the silent one, and he could have wished that Hutchinson had continued to ignore him.

The ice broken, however, Hutchinson seemed inclined to improve the acquaintance. He was a grave, bearded man of about fifty; a manufacturing chemist. Though fairly regular in his attendance at the club he did not seem to have many friends there. His manners were civil but not expansive, and Earle observed that the club servants regarded him as a man who must not be kept waiting. His interest in Earle, which the younger man could not fail to regard as a compliment, was expressed in challenging statements, often based upon something Earle had said in conversation with somebody else. Or Hutchinson would ask a question, about art or literature or human relations, and having drawn Earle out by the Socratic method, would refrain from giving his own views on the subject. The effect upon Earle was to make him feel that he was being taken more seriously than was convenient. It was like being studied under the microscope, and he could not help feeling that at the bottom of his heart Hutchinson despised his order of intelligence. At this stage he could not have said if he liked Hutchinson or not. He summed him up as an old-fashioned materialist, with a good logical brain, conservative in his views, unimaginative, and decidedly anti-democratic in social matters. He would be a just but exacting employer.

As the acquaintance progressed, each advance being made by Hutchinson in his rather brusque manner, the two men would sometimes have tea together. Beyond the feeling that Hutchinson saved up little problems for his opinion, and reflected upon what he said, Earle did not receive the impression that the elder man was personally interested in him. Hutchinson was not curious about his professional performances. Once he spoke of having read a poem of Earle's in a review, but beyond saying that he wondered whether there was anything in love beyond physical attraction he expressed no opinion of its merits. Earle gathered that Hutchinson, who was evidently well read in the English classics, thought poorly of modern literature in general.