Although no agreement was reached, as a whole, Discussion is generally good for the soul; The ostrich, ere adjudication was through, Unconsciously pa.s.sing his acts in review, Had arrived, independently, at the decision, That he'd been a fool; and he laughed in derision, To think he'd permitted his weak self-conceit, To lead him to pecking his own faithful feet.

to hear the judgment of such councils of mankind; great and small are its representatives, and progress will be made only so far as the religious idea proclaimed in Judea shall be allowed to influence the pride and pa.s.sions of men.

_XIII._

The waiting knight, emblem of the new manhood just entering upon its estate of resolution and responsibility, is the type of a generation now setting forth in quest of high and honorable adventure. Satan is at his back, thrusting forward a bag of gold and counselling the pursuit of wealth; "Put money in thy purse!" saith the devil; "all else counts but little,--put money in thy purse!" At his left hand stands the priest in his splendid robes of office, proffering the symbol of suffering and self-renunciation. The knight sees the frozen church with ascetic and veiled superst.i.tion as its hand-maidens; the star of Bethlehem still shines out of the dark upon a mighty hand reaching out of the clouds to shake to its foundations the edifice of Christ, emblazoned with the letter and the creed, but supported by the pomp and pride of a purely material world. "The zeal of his house hath eaten him up," and in the majestic temple sits the money changer, absorbed in his trade and his material enterprises. Before him kneels the imploring angel of Freedom, raising the flag of the great republic, with all its portents and promises, symbolically arrayed in its stripes and stars. Uncle Sam is but a puzzled and quizzical spectator of future events.

_XIV._

The battle between the head and the feet results, at last, in the fall of Satan, that is, Self, under the G.o.d-principle of self-renunciation, working in all human creeds and canticles, foreshadowing the unity of the race in the power of the religious idea that has, at last, become dominant in the head. The cross, no longer an emblem of suffering but of power, unites with the crown in a final union of church and state. Here behold the wedded bliss of the long divorced pair, presaging a new and glorified race of man. Then, indeed, the baptismal story of man's h.o.a.ry and ancient glory in Eden shall usher in that gracious day, when the lamb and the lion shall gambol together, and there shall be in all the earth neither murder, nor theft, nor plunder, nor war.

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Thereafter, the ostrich, with feet and head sore, Resolved he would not peck his feet any more; He's learned by experience, virtue superior Lies, often, concealed under coa.r.s.est exterior; That modest and unostentatious a.s.sumption, Betimes, will outweigh overweening presumption; That the feet of an ostrich, no less than his head,-- Though that be, perchance, more or less better bred And adapted by nature to study astronomy,-- Are important two members of ostrich economy, With which no wise bird, be his head ere so comely, Should quarrel, because they are dirty and homely.

Having reached this conclusion, our ostrich became A modified ostrich in all but the name; From old misconceptions of merest mendacity, He grew to be kindly and lost his loquacity, More humble in spirit, imbued with true charity,-- Which, under the sun, is the thing of most rarity.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Lest any imagine this measure devoid Of meaning they'd quicker detect unalloyed, It is meet to observe that 'twas writ with design, Well knowing wise men its intent will divine.

By the ostrich is meant mankind, great and small, Weak and strong, rich and poor, thin and fat, short and tall, Let loose for awhile, in earth's paddock confined, An attempt of the G.o.ds to rear more of their kind; I infer the experiment still is in doubt, For very few G.o.ds have, as yet, been hatched out.

But some men, there are, with great purposes fraught, Who have pushed back afar the world's frontier of thought; And others, whose deeds, speaking louder than words, Show how much of G.o.d human nature affords, Foretelling of Heaven,--e'en giving a glimpse Of seraphim, cherubim, angels and nymphs,-- Till the heart of humanity, lifted up, sings In tune with the Infinite nature of things.

The End.