LXXVI. THE SEA.

1. The sea! the sea! the open sea!
The blue, the fresh, the ever free!
Without a mark, without a bound,

It runneth the earth's wide regions round;
It plays with the clouds; it mocks the skies;
Or like a cradled creature lies.

2. I'm on the sea! I'm on the sea!
I am where I would ever be;

With the blue above, and the blue below,
And silence wheresoe'er I

go:

If a storm should come and awake the deep, What matter? I shall ride and sleep.

3. I love, oh! how I love, to ride
On the fierce, foaming, bursting tide,
When every mad wave drowns the moon,
Or whistles aloft his tempest tune,
And tells how goeth the world below,
And why the sou'west blasts do blow.

4. I never was on the dull, tame shore,

But I loved the great sea more and more,
And backward flew to her billowy breast,
Like a bird that seeketh its mother's nest
And a mother she was, and is, to me;
For I was born on the open sea!

5. The waves were white, and red the morn,
In the noisy hour when I was born;

And the whale it whistled, the porpoise rolled,
And the dolphins bared their backs of gold;
And never was heard such an outcry wild
As welcomed to life the ocean-child!

6. I've lived since then, in calm and strife,
Full fifty summers, a sailor's life,

With wealth to spend and a power to range,
But never have sought nor sighed for change;
And Death, whenever he comes to me,

Shall come on the wild, unbounded sea!

1. Bound, regions, billowy, porpoise, dolphins, sighed.

2. Has the sea no bounds? Is the ocean meant here? Explain "plays with the clouds," "drowns the moon," "tame shore," "world below." In what way is the sea “fresh”?

LXXVII. THE SHADOWS.

PART I.

1. Never did such a grotesque assembly reveal itself to mortal eyes. The king had seen all kinds of goblins; but they were quite regular in form compared with the insane lawlessness in which the Shadows rejoiced; and their wildest gambols were

2. "What are you?" said the king, looking about him. "The Shadows, your majesty," answered several voices at once; "the shadows of men and women, and their children." "Are you not shadows of chairs and tables, pokers and tongs, as well?"

3. At this question there was evident agitation, and the one who seemed best able to master his feelings said, "I see your majesty has never thought proper to acquaint himself with our nature and habits." "I wish to do so now," replied the king.

4. "We do not belong to the sunshine at all. It is only in the twilight by the open fire, or when a man or a woman is alone with a single light, or a number are feeling the same thing at once, that we show ourselves or the truth of things."

5. "Can that be true that loves the night?" asked the king. "The darkness is the nurse of the light,” answered the Shadow." "Can that be true which mocks at forms?" "Truth rides abroad in shapeless storms," answered the Shadow.

6. "Ha! ha!" thought the king; "it rhymes." And he grew thoughtful as he thought upon what they said. The Shadow was the first to speak. "Please your majesty, may we present our petition?" "By all means," replied the king. "Go

on."

7. "Sire," began the Shadow, "our very existence is in danger. The various sorts of artificial

lights, both in houses and in men, women, and children, threaten to end our being. The use and the position of gas lights high in the centers of rooms blind the eyes by which alone we can be perceived. We petition to the king to restore us to our rights in the houses and the hearts of its inhabitants."

8. "But," said the king, "you frighten children.” "Very seldom, your majesty, and then only for their good. We seldom seek to frighten anybody. We want to make them more silent and thoughtful; to awe them a little, your majesty."

9. "You are much more likely to make them laugh," said the king. "Are we?" said the Shadow. And, approaching, he stood still for a moment. The king stared, and his lip quivered. He never told what he saw.

10. "The moon is rising, and we must be gone, for we are powerful in the moonlight, and to-night we have much to do. If your majesty will come to our assembly to-morrow night, when we make our reports, you can then judge whether it be fit to accord our petition."

11. "I will come," said the king. Ere the Shadow could reply, the tip of the moon's crescent peeped from behind an icy peak, but its rays fell upon no Shadows, and the king found himself alone.

12. In the dusky twilight of the next day the king awaited the gathering of the Shadows. The