Caroline Chisholm (Kendall)

Caroline Chisholm (1862)
by Thomas Henry Kendall
2146443Caroline Chisholm1862Thomas Henry Kendall

"A perfect woman, nobly planned,
"To warm, to comfort, and command."

The priests and Levites went forth, to feast at the courts of the kings;
They were vain of their greatness and worth, and gladdened with glittering things;
They were fair in the favour of gold, and they walked on, with delicate feet.
Where, famished and faint with the cold, the women fell down in the street.

The priests and the Lavites looked round, all vexed and perplexed at the cries
Of the maiden who crouched to the ground, with the madness of want in her eyes.
And they muttered – "Few praises are earned when good hath been wrought in the dark:
While the backs of tho people are turned, we choose not to loiter nor hark."

Moreover, they said – "It is fair that our deeds in the daylight should shine,
If we feasted you, who would declare that we gave you our honey and wine?
They gathered up garments of gold, and they stepped with their delicate feet.
From tho women who, famished with cold, were left with the snow in the street.

The winds and the rains were abroad – the homeless looked vainly for alms;
And they prayed in the dark to the Lord, with agony clenched in their palms.
"There is none of us left that is whole," they cried through their faltering breath;
"We are clothed with a sickness of soul, and the shape of the shadow of death."

He heard them and turned to this earth – "I am pained," said the Lord, "at the woe
Of my children so smitten with death; but the night of their trouble shall go."
He called on his Chosen to come : she listened, and hastened to rise;
And he charged her to build them a home, where the tears should be dried from their eyes.

God's servant came forth from the South : she told of a plentiful land;
And wisdom was set in her mouth, and strength in the thews of her hand.
She lifted them out of their fear, and they thought her their Moses, and said:
"We shall follow you, sister, from here to the country of sunshine and bread."

She fed them, and led them away, through tempest and tropical heat,
till they reached the far regions of day, and sweet-scented spaces of wheat!
She hath made them a home with her hand, and they bloom like the summery vines;
For they eat of the fat of the land, and drink of its glittering wines.

This work is in the public domain in Australia because it was created in Australia and the term of copyright has expired. According to Australian Copyright Council - Duration of Copyright, the following works are public domain:

  • published non-government works whose author died before January 1, 1955,
  • anonymous or pseudonymous works and photographs published before January 1, 1955, and
  • government works published more than 50 years ago (before January 1, 1974).

This work is also in the public domain in the United States because it was first published outside the United States (and not published in the U.S. within 30 days), and it was first published before 1989 without complying with U.S. copyright formalities (renewal and/or copyright notice) and it was in the public domain in Australia on the URAA date (January 1, 1996). This is the combined effect of Australia having joined the Berne Convention in 1928, and of 17 USC 104A with its critical date of January 1, 1996.

Because the Australian copyright term in 1996 was 50 years, the critical date for copyright in the United States under the URAA is January 1, 1946.


This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.

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This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.

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