They are but poor, though much they have;
And I am rich with little store..

They poor, I rich; they beg, I give;
They lack, I lend; they pine, I live.

I laugh not at another's loss,

I grudge not at another's gain;
No worldly wave my mind can toss;
I brook that is another's bane.

I fear no foe, nor fawn on friend;
I loathe not life, nor dread mine end.

I joy not in no earthly bliss;

I weigh not Croesus' wealth a straw; For care, I care not what it is;

I fear not fortune's fatal law : My mind is such as may not move For beauty bright or force of love.

I wish but what I have at will;

I wander not to seek for more; I like the plain, I climb no hill;

In greatest storms I sit on shore, And laugh at them that toil in vain To get what must be lost again.

I kiss not where I wish to kill;

I feign not love where most I hate;
I break no sleep to win my will;
I wait not at the mighty's gate.

I scorn no poor, I fear no rich;
I feel no want, nor have too much.

The court, nor cart, I like nor loathe;

Extremes are counted worst of all;

The golden mean betwixt them both

Doth surest sit, and fears no fall;
This is my choice, for why, I find
No wealth is like a quiet mind.

My wealth is health and perfect ease;
My conscience clear my chief defence;
I never seek by bribes to please,
Nor by desert to give offence:
Thus do I live, thus will I die;

Would all did so as well as I !

thrall, bondman; slave.

bane, injury; destruction.

wily wit to salve a sore, soft speech; Cro'sus, king of the ancient country of flattery. Lydia, and said to have possessed brook, endure. untold wealth.

THIS poem first appeared in print in a book published by William Byrd in 1588. As Byrd was a song-writer, the poem has been attributed to him. But the longest and probably earliest version, in manuscript, is signed E. Dier. Edward Dyer was a poet of the age of Queen Elizabeth, and a friend of Sir Walter Raleigh's.

THE FRUIT OF THE LOTOS TREE

CHARLES LAMB

THIS history tells of the wanderings of Ulysses and his followers in their return from Troy, after the destruction of that famous city of Asia by the Grecians.

He was inflamed with a desire of seeing again, after a ten years' absence, his wife and native country, Ithaca. He was king of a barren spot, and a poor country in comparison with the fruitful plains of Asia, which he was leaving, or the wealthy kingdoms which he touched upon in his return. Yet, wherever he came, he could never see

a soil which appeared in his eyes half so sweet or desirable as his country earth.

After the mariners had set sail from Troy, a fearful tempest ensued, which for two nights and two days tossed them about, but the third day the weather cleared, and they had hopes of a favorable gale to carry them to Ithaca. But for the space of nine days contrary winds continued to drive them in an opposite direction to the point to which they were bound. The tenth day they put in at a shore where a race of men dwell that are sustained by the fruit of the lotos tree.

Here Ulysses sent some of his men to the land for fresh water, who were met by certain of the inhabitants that gave them some of their country food to eat — not with any ill intention toward them, though in the event it proved pernicious. For, having eaten of this fruit, so pleasant it proved to their appetite that they quite forgot all thoughts of home, or of their countrymen, or of ever returning to the ships to give an account of what sort of inhabitants dwelt there, but they would needs stay and live among them, and eat of that precious food forever.

And when Ulysses sent other of his men to look for them, and to bring them back by force, they strove, and wept, and would not leave their food for heaven itself, so much had the pleasure of that enchanting fruit bewitched them. But Ulysses caused them to be bound hand and foot, and cast under the hatches; and set sail with all speed from that baneful coast, lest others after them might taste the lotos, which had such strange qualities to make men forget their native country and the thoughts of home.

Ith'a ca, one of the Io'nian Islands, in | lo'tos, a tree found in northern Africa, the Mediterranean Sea, twenty miles west of the mainland of Greece.

Portugal, and Spain, the fruit of which is mildly sweet.

THE LOTOS-EATERS

ALFRED TENNYSON

"COURAGE!" he said, and pointed toward the land; "This mounting wave will roll us shoreward soon." In the afternoon they came unto a land

In which it seemed always afternoon.

All round the coast the languid air did swoon,
Breathing like one that hath a weary dream.
Full-faced above the valley stood the moon;
And like a downward smoke, the slender stream
Along the cliff to fall and pause and fall did seem.

A land of streams! some, like a downward smoke,
Slow dropping veils of thinnest lawn, did go;
And some through wavering lights and shadows broke,
Rolling a slumbrous sheet of foam below.

They saw the gleaming river seaward flow

From the inner land; far off, three mountain tops,
Three silent pinnacles of aged snow,

Stood sunset-flushed; and, dewed with showery drops,
Up-clomb the shadowy pine above the woven copse.

The charmed sunset lingered low adown

In the red West; through mountain clefts the dale
Was seen far inland, and the yellow down
Bordered with palm, and many a winding vale

And meadow, set with slender galingale

A land where all things always seemed the same!
And round about the keel with faces pale,
Dark faces pale against that rosy flame,

The mild-eyed melancholy Lotos-eaters came.

Branches they bore of that enchanted stem,
Laden with flower and fruit, whereof they gave
To each, but whoso did receive of them
And taste, to him the gushing of the wave
Far, far away did seem to mourn and rave
On alien shores; and if his fellow spake,
His voice was thin, as voices from the grave,
And deep asleep he seemed, yet all awake,
And music in his ears his beating heart did make.

They sat them down upon the yellow sand,
Between the sun and moon upon the shore;
And sweet it was to dream of Fatherland,
Of child, and wife, and slave; but evermore
Most weary seemed the sea, weary the oar,
Weary the wandering fields of barren foam.
Then some one said, "We will return no more;
And all at once they sang, "Our island home
Is far beyond the wave; we will no longer roam."
gal'in gale, a plant having spicy roots. |a'li en, strange; foreign.

ULYSSES ESCAPES SCYLLA AND CHARYBDIS

CHARLES LAMB

After leaving the land of the lotos-eaters, and enduring sundry adventures, Ulysses and his crew come to the island of Ææ'a. Here the enchantress Cir'ce entertains the wanderers for twelve months. When Ulysses is about to depart, she warns him of dangers in his way.

“UNHAPPY man, thee Scylla, thee Charyb'dis, expect. Thee the deathful Sirens lie in wait for, that taint the minds of whosoever listen to them with their sweet singing. Whosoever shall but hear the call of any Siren, he