chief workmen and cunning artificers - stretch forth your hands, therefore, and eat and drink and be merry.

3. And when Solomon and the chief workmen were seated, and the fatness of the land and the oil thereof were set upon the table, there came one who knocked loudly at the door, and forced himself into the festal chamber. Then Solomon, the king, was wroth, and said unto him, "Who art thou that comest hither unbidden?"

4. And the man answered and said, "When men wish to honor me, they call me Son of the Forge; but, when they desire to mock me, they call me Blacksmith; and seeing that the toil of working in fire covers me with sweat and smut, the latter name, O king, is not unfit; and, in truth, thy servant desireth no better."

5. Then said Solomon unto him, "Why camest thou thus rudely and unbidden to the feast, to which none save the chief workmen of the Temple are invited?

6. Then answered the man, "I came rudely, O king, because thy servant obliged me to force my way; but I came not unbidden. Was it not proclaimed that the chief workmen of the Temple were invited to dine with the king of Israel?"

7. Then he who carved the cherubim said, "This

fellow is no graver." And he who inlaid the roof with pure gold said, "Neither is he a workman in precious metals." And he who squared the stone said, "He is not a hewer of stone." And he who made the roof cried out," He is not cunning in cedar wood; neither knoweth he the mystery of joining timber."

8. Then said Solomon, "What hast thou to say, Son of the Forge, why I should not order thee to be plucked by the beard, scourged, and stoned to death?"

9. And when the Son of the Forge heard this he was in no sort dismayed, but advanced to the table, and took up and swallowed a cup of wine, and said: "O king, live forever! The chief men of the workers in wood and gold and stone have said that I am not one of them, and they have said truly. Iam greater than they; before they lived was I created. I am their master, and they are all my servants."

10. And he turned him round, and said to the chief of the carvers in stone, "Who made the tools with which thou carvest?" And the chief carver said, "The blacksmith." And he said to the chief of the masons, "Who made the chisels with which the stones of the Temple were squared?" And the chief mason answered, "The blacksmith.'

II. And he said to the chief of the hewers

of wood, "Who made the tools with which thou hewedst the trees on Lebanon, and formedst them into the pillars and roof of the Temple?" And the chief hewer said, "The blacksmith."

12. Then he said to the worker in gold and ivory, "Who makes the instruments by which thou makest beautiful things for my lord, the king?" And he said, "The blacksmith."

13. "Enough, enough, O blacksmith," said Solomon; "thou hast proved that I invited thee, and that in art thou hast precedence of all men. Go wash the smut of the forge from thy face, and come sit at my right hand.”

14. And the master builders, and the cunning workmen in silver and gold, in wood and brass and stone, gave place to the blacksmith.

Stand up erect! Thou hast the form

And likeness of thy God! - who more?

A soul as dauntless 'mid the storm
Of daily life, a heart as warm
And pure as breast e'er bore.

What then? Thou art as true a man

As moves the human mass among;
As much a part of the great plan
That with creation's dawn began
As any of the throng.

XVI. CLEAR THE WAY

1. Men of thought! be up and stirring, Night and day:

Sow the seed - withdraw the curtain

Clear the way!

Men of action, aid and cheer them,

As ye may;

There's a fount about to stream,

There's a light about to beam,
There's a warmth about to glow,

There's a flower about to blow;

There's a midnight blackness changing

Into gray!

Men of thought and men of action,
Clear the way!

2. Once the welcome light has broken, Who shall say

What the unimagined glories

Of the day?

What the evil that shall perish

In its ray?

Aid the dawning, tongue and pen;

Aid it, hopes of honest men;

Aid it, paper; aid it, type;

Aid it, for the hour is ripe,

3.

And our earnest must not slacken

Into play.

Men of thought and men of action,
Clear the way!

Lo! the cloud's about to vanish
From the day;

And a brazen wrong to crumble

Into clay.

Lo! the Right's about to conquer.
Clear the way!

With the Right shall many more
Enter, smiling, at the door;
With the giant Wrong shall fall
Many others, great and small,
That for ages long have held us
For their prey.

Men of thought and men of action,
Clear the way!

CHARLES MACKAY.

1. Men said the old smith was foolishly careful, as he wrought on the great chain he was making in his dingy shop in the heart of the great city. But he heeded not their words, and only wrought with greater painstaking. Link after link he fashioned