All Quiet along the Potomac and other poems

by Ethel Lynn Beers

All Quiet Along the Potomac,

AND

OTHER POEMS.

BY

ETHEL LYNN BEERS

PORTER & COATES,

PHILADELPHIA.

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Copyright, 1879, by PORTER & COATES

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PREFACE.

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THE poems now collected for the first time have been contributed during several years to various publications—the earlier ones to Harper's Magazine and Weekly, and most of the later ones to the N. Y. Ledger. Copied by other papers, with due credit given, perhaps, at first, some of them have become nameless waifs floating on the sea of print.

The poor "Picket," whose unquiet ghost refuses to remain laid "All Quiet along the Potomac," where I left him years ago, has several claimants, all with "authentic proofs of authorship," and "Which shall it Be?" reappears under various titles at regular intervals.

So I have gathered, for the friendly hands that care to hold it, this handful of white clover and daisies. I have found Life's poetry and pathos blooming beside its trodden paths and by the doorways of its homes. If some gentle heart shall find within this sheaf some treasured waif or song remembered, or if words yet unfamiliar bring to me one new friend, I have not rhymed in vain.

ETHEL LYNN BEERS.

Orange, June 2, 1879.

CONTENTS.

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ALL Quiet Along the Potomac	13
On the Shores of Tennessee	15
Whisper Softly, stainless Lilies	18
Company K	19
Our Folks	21
Picking Hops	24
On Guard	25
Fire-Proof.	27
Given, not Hired	29
Three Scenes in One Woman's Life	30
Midnight	32
No Name	34
Out of Style	36
The Evergreen's Moan	38
The November Garden	40
By the Cottonwood Tree	42
The Birds Camp-meeting	45
"Svala, Svala Honom!"	47
The Moon that Shone in Paradise	48
Straw Paper	50
Four-leaved Clover	51
Worldly Wisdom	53
Songs under the Ice	55
A Dreamer's Tale	57
Old-fashioned Flowers	59
One Summer	60
Because a Time may Come	62
A Year-old Sorrow	63
Grandma's Christmas	65
"The Common People heard Him gladly"	66
A Seat in the City Cars	68
Noonday Rest	69
Gone to the Country	71
Life's Holidays	72
Incorrigible	74
Into our New Home	76
Scattered Roses	77
St. John's Wort	79
The Doorway of Sleep	80
Which shall it Be?	82
Baby Looking out for Me	85
The Captive Cloud	86
Human Eyes	88
Life's Soldiers	89
The Black Sheep	91
Holly and Mistletoe	94
The Stranger s Prayer	96
A Word to the Old Garret	97
Daisy s Good-bye to her Doll	99
Purple	100
When Jonquils Bloom	102
One to Lose, but Three to Mourn	104
Planted by the River	106
A New Friend	107
Rich and Poor	108
Who Sails with the Ship?	116
Frost-smitten	117
Floating	119
Out with the Tide	121
Lights and Shadows	123
A November Good-Night	125
On the Stairs	126
Hidden Glory	128
Hester s Jewels	130
Dominic Day	131
Weighing the Baby	134
Fair Glances	136
The Gold Nugget	138
The Carpet of Life	140
In the Fall	142
The Boys	143
Star-Blooms	146
Cares I have Not	147
Drifted Away	149
Until Next Summer	153
In the Night	154
A Glad To-morrow	156
The Friend in Shadow	157
One Forest-Fire	159
The Waxen Lily	161
Tracks in the Snow	163
Little Jo	165
Grannie's Test	166
Nobody Knows	168
Old School and New	170
The Baggage-Wagon	171
North Conway	173
Lady Bug	175
Santa Claus's Mistake	177
The Fairie Fern	179
Courageous Fear	182
Gold and Crimson	184
The Sunken Island	186
"Rack-o Bones"	188
Don't Wake the Baby	191
Bridges	192
The Garden-Gate	194
The Wife's Letter	196
Tell me, Mother	198
The Lesson of a Shadow	199
Shadows of Threescore and Ten	201
Earth's Angels	202
The Ship of the Summer-time	204
The Gray Boatman	206
The Old Doorstone	208
The Sunshine s Story	210
A Day's Campaign	212
At Last	213
The Ones who are left Behind	216
The Reason Why	218
"With Care"	220
The Deacon's Trial	221
The Spirit's Journey to Dream-land	223
A Discontented Leaf	225
The Christmas Sheaf	227
A Lost Summer	228
John Gray, Junior	230
Mabel's Mission	232
A Question	234
Even Measure	236
Bloom above, and Labor under	238
A Shining Link	239
The Postman of the Air	241
Woman's Kingdom	242
Paris Fashions.—(War Time)	244
Over the Lake	246
Ruth and Lot	247
Beside a Fairy Fire	249
Teddy s Letter	250
Here and There	252
The Last Letter	253
The Tuberose	254
John Eliot, the Indian Apostle	256
Hymn	261
Dinners and Darns	262
The Tree of Youth	263
Attained	264
Garland or Hawser	266
The Lost Key	268
Charcoal s Story	269
Through the Mist	271
Camp-meeting Sunday at Ocean Grove	273
A Sunday Evening Beach-service at Ocean Grove	275
Better than Diamonds	277
Home from Meeting	280
The Unbidden Guest	283
Growler Grim's Dream	285
Is it Wise?	288
The Midnight Guest	289
Then and Now	291
Forgive Her? No, Never!	293
A Little While	295
Grandmother's Love-letter	297
My Namesake	299
The Dragon-Fly s Quest	300
Tree-top Trouble	302
The Rose of the Ring	303
Time's Triumph	306
The Daffodils never Forget	308
A Lover's Stratagem	310
In Danger	311
Hill and Shore	312
A Question	313
The Farmer's Wife	315
Off Barnegat	317
Reunited	321
A Bachelor's Bride	322
An Old Man	323
The Snow that lies Between	326
Sympathy	327
Aunt Abby's Wings	328
Going to Sleep	330
The Buried Ship	331
Baby-Love	333
The Baby's Coming	334
Very Early	336
The Letters that Come Not	337
The Voice of the Children's Bell	339
Hum-Bird and Bumble	340
Baby is King	342
Johnnie s Opinion of Grandmothers	344
Kitty's Cat and Mine	345
Cradle and Grave	347
Explanatory Notes	349