Abou Ben Adhem (may his tribe increase) Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace, And saw, within the moonlight in his room, Making it rich and like a lily in bloom,An angel, writing in a book of gold. Exceeding peace had made Ben Adhem bold, And, to the presence in the room, he said,"What writest thou?" The vision raised its head, And, with a look made of all sweet accord, Answered, "The names of those who love the Lord." "And is mine one?" said Abou. "Nay, not so," Replied the angel. Abou spoke more low,But cheerily still, and said, " I pray thee, then, Write me as one that loves his fellow men." The angel wrote, and vanished. The next night It came again with a groat wakening light,And showed the names whom love of God had blessed, And lo! Ben Adhem"s name led all the rest.
Leigh Hunt.
Autho r. -L e i g h H u n t (J ames Henry), English poet and essayist(1784-1859). During a life of ceaseless activity and as ceaseless financial embarrassment, he managed to produce a series of very readable Essays, an Autobiography, and a chatty prose volume on London, The Town. Narrative verse is his forte, but his poetry is now little known, with the exception of "Abou ben Adhem," "The Glove and the Lions, and"Jenny Kissed Me."General Notes.-Of what country was Abou ben Adhem? Note that inthe East surnames are not used, and that " ben" means son of. Compare our Johnson, Robinson. Dixon, McDonald, O"Brien, Fitzgerald. Other poets have expressed the idea that God does not dwell apart, but is to be sought in all erection. Ethel Clifford speaks of the God that is hid in one"s fellow-men; Cowper says "There lives and works a soul in all things, and that soul is God"; Tennyson says "Speak to Him now, for He hears, and spirit with spirit may meet; closer is He than breathing, nearer than hands and feet." Find other references to the same theme. Write an essay on " Men who have loved their fellows." How does one"s love for one"s neighbours best show itself ?
LESSON 5
A BuSH FIRE
No rain yet. and we were in the end of January; the foun- tains of heaven were dried up. But now all round the northern horizon the bush fires burnt continually, a pillar of smoke by day and a pillar of fire by night.
Nearer by night, like an enemy creeping up to a belea- guered town. The weather had been very still for some time. and we took the precaution to burn great strips of grass all round the paddocks to the north; but, in spite of all our precautions, I knew that should a strong wind come on from that quarter nothing short of a miracle would save us.
On the third of February the heat was worse than ever, but there was no wind; and as the sun went down among the lurid smoke, red as blood, I thought I made out a few white, brush-shaped clouds rising in the north.
Jim and I sat very late, not talking much. We knew that if we were to be burnt out our loss would be very heavy; but we thanked God that even were we to lose everything it would not be irreparable, and that we should still be wealthy. Our brood mares and racing stock wereour greatest anxiety. We had a good stack of hay, by which we might keep them alive for another month, supposing all the grass was burnt; but, if we lost that, our horses would probably die. I said at last-"Jim, we may make up our minds to have the run swept.
The fire is burning up now."
"Yes, it is brightening," said he; "but it must be twenty miles off still, and if it comes down with a gentle wind we shall save the paddocks and hay. There is a good deal of grass in the lower paddock. I am glad we had the forethought not to feed it down. Well, fire or no fire, I shall go to bed."We went to bed, and, in spite of anxiety, mosquitoes, and heat, I fell asleep. In the grey morning I was awakened, nearly suffocated, by a dull, continuous roar. It was the wind in the chimney. The north wind, so long imprisoned, had broken loose, and the boughs were crashing, and the trees were falling before the majesty of his wrath.
I ran out and met Jim on the veranda. "It"s all up," I said. " Get the women and children into the river, and let the men go up to windward with the sheepskins to beat out the fire in the short grass. I"ll get on horseback and go out and see how the Morgans get on. That obstinate fellow will wish he had come in now."Morgan was a stockman of ours, who lived, with a wife and two children, about eight miles to the northward. We always thought it would have been better for him to movein; but he had put it off, and now the fire had taken us by surprise.
I rode away, dead up-wind. Our station had a few large trees about it, and then all was clear plain and short grass for two miles. I feared from the density of the smoke that the fire had reached them already; but I thought it my duty to go and see, for I might meet them fleeing, and help them with the children.
I have seen many bush fires, but never such a one as this. The wind was blowing a hurricane, and when I had ridden about two miles into high scrub I began to get frightened. Still I persevered, against hope; the heat grew more fearful every moment. But I reflected that I had often ridden up close to a bush fire, turned when I began to see the flame through the smoke, and cantered away from it easily.
Then it struck me that I had never yet seen a bush fire in such a hurricane as this. I remembered stories of men riding for their lives, and others of burnt horses and men found in the bush, And now I saw a sight which made me turn in good earnest.
I was in lofty timber, and, as I paused, I heard the mighty crackling of fire coming through the wood. At the same instant the blinding smoke burst into a million tongues of flickering flame, and I saw the fire-not where I had seen it before, not creeping along among the scrub, but up aloft, a hundred and fifty feet overhead. It hadcaught the dry tops of the higher boughs, and was flying along from tree-top to tree-top like lightning. Below, the wind was comparatively moderate; but, up there, it was travelling twenty miles an hour. I saw one tree ignite like gun-cotton, and then my heart grew small, and I turned and fled.