Successful Recitations Part 36

There were "prams" for the girls, there were "trams" for the boys, And thousands of clever mechanical toys,-- Engines and carriages running on rails, Steamers and sailers that carry the mails; Flags of all nations, and s.h.i.+ps for all seas-- The Red Sea, the Black Sea, or what sea you please-- That tick it by clockwork or puff it by steam, Or outsail the weather or go with the stream; Carriages drawn by a couple of bays, 'Buses and hansoms, and waggons and drays, Coaches and curricles, rallis and gigs-- All sorts of wheelers, with all sorts of rigs.

Cricket and croquet, and bat, trap, and ball, And tennis--but really the list would appal.

There were b.a.l.l.s for the mouth, there were b.a.l.l.s for the feet, There were b.a.l.l.s you could play with and b.a.l.l.s you could eat, There were b.a.l.l.s made of leather and b.a.l.l.s made of candy, b.a.l.l.s of all sizes, from footb.a.l.l.s to brandy.

And then came the boxes of curious games, With all sorts of objects and all sorts of names,-- Lotto and Ludo, the Fox and the Geese, Halma and Solitaire--all of a piece; Go-bang and Ringolette, Hook-it and Quoits, For junior endeavours and senior exploits; And Skittles and Spellicans, Tiddle-de-winks-- But one mustn't mention the half that one thinks; Chessmen and draughtsmen, and h.o.a.rds upon h.o.a.rds Of chess and backgammon and bagatelle boards; And boxes of dominoes, boxes of dice, And boxes of tricks you can try in a trice.

And Santa Claus went with his wonderful load Through street after street, and through road after road, And crept through the keyholes--or some other way; He got down the chimneys--so some people say: But, one way or other, he managed to creep Where all the good children were lying asleep; And when he got there, all the stockings in rows That were ready hung up he cramm'd full to the toes With the many good things he had brought with the day From over the hills and far away.

And Santa Claus smiled as he look'd on the faces Of all the good children asleep in their places, And laugh'd out so loud as to almost awaken One sharp little fellow who great pains had taken; His socks were too small--for he'd hopes of great riches-- So, tying the legs, he had hung up his breeches!

And surely the tears almost came in his eyes As he open'd a letter with joy and surprise That he took from a stocking hung up to a bed, And surely they fell as the letter he read; 'Twas a little girl's hand, and said, "Dear Santer Claws, Don't fordit baby's sox--they's hung up to the drors."

But wasn't there laughter and shouting and noise From the boys and the girls, and the girls and the boys, When they counted the good things the good Saint had brought them, And laid them all out on their pillows to sort them.

Such wonderful voices, such wonderful lungs, It was just like another confusion of tongues, A Babel of chatter from master and miss-- And I don't think they've left off from that day to this.

Ah! good little people, if thus you shall find Rich treasures provided, be grateful and mind, In the midst of your pleasures, a moment to pause, And think about Christmas and good Santa Claus!

Remember, in weary and desolate places, With tears in their eyes and with grime on the faces, The children of poverty, sorrow and weep, With little to cheer them awake or asleep; And remember that you who have much and to spare, Can brighten their eyes and can lighten their cares, If you take the example and work to the cause Of your own benefactor, the good Santa Claus.

You need not climb chimneys in tempest and storm, Nor creep into keyholes in fairy-like form; You've a magical key for the dreariest place In the light of your eyes and the smile of your face.

And remember the joy that you give to another Will gladden your own heart as well as the other; For troubles are halved when together we bear them, And pleasures are doubled whenever we share them.

THE IMPERIAL RECITER

"And we are peacemen, also; crying for Peace, peace at any price--though it be war!

We must live free, at peace, or each man dies With death-clutch fast for ever on the prize."

--GERALD Ma.s.sEY.

The Editor's thanks are due to the Rev. A. Frewen Aylward for the use of the poem "Adsum," and to Messrs. Harmsworth Bros, for permission to include Mr. Rudyard Kipling's phenomenal success, "The Absent-Minded Beggar," in this collection; also to Messrs. Harper and Brothers, of New York, for special permission to copy from "Harper's Magazine" the poem "Sheltered," by Sarah Orme Jewett; to Messrs.

Chatto and Windus for permission to use "Mrs. B.'s Alarms," from "Humorous Stories," by the late James Payn; to Miss Palgrave and to Messrs. Macmillan and Co., for the use of "England Once More," by the late F. T. Palgrave; to Mr. Clement Scott for permission to include "Sound the a.s.sembly" and "The Midnight Charge"; to Mr. F. Harald Williams and Mr. Gerald Ma.s.sey for generous and unrestricted use of their respective war poems, and to numerous other authors and publishers for the use of copyright pieces.

PREFATORY.

There is a true and a false Imperialism. There is the Imperialism of the vulgar braggart, who thinks that one Englishman can fight ten men of any other nationality under the sun; and there is the Imperialism of the man of thought, who believes in the destiny of the English race, who does not shrink from the responsibilities of power from "craven fear of being great," and who holds that an Englishman ought to be ready to face _twenty_ men if need be, of any nationality, including his own, rather than surrender a trust or sacrifice a principle. The first would base empire on vanity and brute force, inspired by the vulgar reflection--

"We've got the men, we've got the s.h.i.+ps, we've got the money too."

The second does not seek empire, but will not shrink from the responsibilities of its growth, and in all matters of international dispute believes with Solomon, that "He that is slow to wrath is of great understanding," and in all matters of international relations.h.i.+p that "Righteousness exalteth a nation."

The rapid and solid growth of the British Empire has been due largely to two characteristics of its rule--the integrity of its justice and the soundness of its finance. Native races everywhere appeal with confidence to the justice of our courts, and find in the integrity of our fiscal system relief from the oppressive taxation of barbarous governments.

These blessings we owe, and with them the strength of our empire, not to the force of our arms in the field, but to the subordination of the military to the civil spirit, both in peace and war.

Other nations fail in their attempts at colonisation because they proceed on military lines. With them it is the soldier first and the civilian where he can. England succeeds because she proceeds on _industrial_ lines. With her it is the plough where it may be and the sword where it must.

The military spirit never yet built up an enduring empire, and the danger of military success is that it is apt to confuse means and ends in the public mind, and to encourage the subordination of the civil to the military spirit in national inst.i.tutions. Such a result could only be disastrous to the British Empire, and so, while rejoicing in the success of the British arms, it behoves us to oppose with all our strength the growth of the military spirit.

The seventh decade of the nineteenth century saw the realisation of one of the greatest facts of our time, the federation of the German states in one great military empire. The tenth decade has realised a greater fact, the federation of the British colonies in a great social and commercial empire. The German Empire must fall to pieces if it continues to subordinate the civil to the military Spirit in its national policy. The British Empire can never perish while it is true to the Fatherhood of G.o.d and the Brotherhood of Man.

Signs of the growth of a military spirit are to be seen in the advocacy of some form of conscription or compulsory service for home defence; and this, too, at a time when the ends of the earth have been sending us _volunteers_ in abundance to espouse a foreign quarrel.

Such advocates neither understand the national history nor the English character. Were England in any real danger there would be no need for forced service, and service forced without need would breed revolution. The nation that cannot depend upon its volunteers for its home defence is not worth defending.

ALFRED H. MILES.

_October 1, 1900_.

CONTENTS.

NAME. AUTHOR.

The Englishman Eliza Cook England goes to Battle Gerald Ma.s.sey England Once More F. T. Palgrave G.o.d Defend the Right F. Harold Williams The Volunteer Alfred H. Miles Down in Australia Gerald Ma.s.sey Australia Speaks Gerald Ma.s.sey An Imperial Reply Gerald Ma.s.sey The Boys' Return Gerald Ma.s.sey "Sound the a.s.sembly!" Clement Scott The Absent-Minded Beggar Rudyard Kipling For the Empire F. Harald Williams Wanted--a Cromwell F. Harald Williams England's Ironsides F. Harald Williams The Three Cherry-Stones Anonymous The Mids.h.i.+pman's Funeral Darley Dale Ladysmith F. Harald Williams The Six-inch Gun "The Bombsh.e.l.l"

St. Patrick's Day F. Harald Williams The Hero of Omdurman F. Harald Williams Boot and Saddle F. Harald Williams The Midnight Charge Clement Scott Mafeking--"Adsum!" A. Frewen Aylward The Fight at Rorke's Drift Emily Pfeiffer Relieved! (At Mafeking) "Daily Express"

How Sam Hodge Won the V.C. Jeffrey Prowse The Relief of Lucknow R.T.S. Lowell A Ballad of War M.B. Smedley The Alma R.C. Trench After Alma Gerald Ma.s.sey Balaclava--The Charge of the Light Lord Tennyson Brigade After Balaclava James Williams Inkerman Gerald Ma.s.sey Killed in Action F. Harald Williams At the Breach Sarah Williams Santa Filomena H.W. Longfellow The Little Hatchet Story Burdette The Loss of the _Birkenhead_ Sir F.H. Doyle Elihu Alice Carey The Last of the _Eurydice_ Sir Noel Paton The Warden of the Cinque Ports H.W. Longfellow England's Dead Felicia Hemans Mehrab Khan Sir F.H. Doyle The Red Thread of Honour Sir F.H. Doyle The Private of the Buffs Sir F.H. Doyle A Fisherman's Song Alfred H. Miles The Field of Waterloo Lord Byron The Lay of the Brave Cameron J. S. Blackie A Song for Stout Workers J. S. Blackie At the Burial of a Veteran Alfred H. Miles Napoleon and the British Sailor Thomas Campbell The Burial of Sir John Moore Charles Wolfe At Trafalgar Gerald Ma.s.sey Camperdown Alfred H. Miles The Armada Lord Macaulay Mr. Barker's Picture Max Adeler The Wooden Leg Max Adeler The Enchanted s.h.i.+rt Colonel John Hay Jim Bludso Colonel John Hay Freedom J.R. Lowell The Coortin' J.R. Lowell The Heritage J.R. Lowell Lady Clare Lord Tennyson Break, Break, Break Lord Tennyson The Lord of Burleigh Lord Tennyson Dora Lord Tennyson Mrs. B.'s Alarms James Payn Sheltered Sarah Orme Jewett Guild's Signal Bret Harte Bill Mason's Bride Bret Harte The Clown's Baby "St. Nicholas"

Aunt Tabitha O. Wendell Holmes Little Orphant Annie J. Whitcomb Riley The Limitations of Youth Eugene Field Rubinstein's Playing Anonymous Obituary William Thomson The Editor's Story Alfred H. Miles Nat Ricket Alfred H. Miles 'Spatially Jim "Harper's Magazine"

'Arry's Ancient Mariner Campbell Rae-Brown The Amateur Orlando George T. Lanigan A Ballad of a Bazaar Campbell Rae-Brown A Parental Ode Thomas Hood 'Twas ever Thus Henry S. Leigh Miss Maloney on the Chinese Question Mary Mapes Dodge The Heathen Chinee Bret Harte Ho-ho of the Golden Belt John G. Saxe The Hired Squirrel Laura Sanford Ballad of the Trailing Skirt New York "Life"

To the Girl in Khaki "Modern Society"

The Tender Heart Helen G. Cone A Song of Saratoga John G. Saxe The Sea Eva L. Ogden A Tale of a Nose Charles F. Adams Leedle Yawcob Strauss Charles F. Adams Dot Baby of Mine Charles F. Adams A Dutchman's Mistake Charles F. Adams The Owl Critic James T. Fields The True Story of King Marshmallow Anonymous The Jackdaw of Rheims R.H. Barham Tubal Cain Charles Mackay The Three Preachers Charles Mackay Say not the Struggle A.H. Clough Patriotism Lord Tennyson To-day and To-morrow Gerald Ma.s.sey Ring Out, Wild Bells Lord Tennyson "Rule, Britannia!" James Thomson

THE IMPERIAL RECITER.

_EDITED BY ALFRED H. MILES_.

THE ENGLISHMAN.