If they who carved on cliff and hillside Might but return today and see The picture writing of the present, Big with surprise their eyes would be. We learned their message from the pictures, Tho tiresome was the task and slow; But we shall pass along a story That all the world may read and know. A Prayer for Thanksgiving (1922) [Transcriber’s note: All verses are italicized.] While we are seated at our board In comfort here today, With happy face, and kindly word, Let us not fail to pray For all who do not have their share Of comfort and of gain, For troubled people everywhere In hunger or in pain. Where weary mothers toil unfed In places foul and dim, Where little children cry for bread And none is given them, Lord, let Thy mercy have its way. Sow plenty in the land, And teach us in our joy today To lend a helping hand. A Psalm of the Movies (1922) _(With all due apologies.)_ Tell me not in sturdy measure What it says upon the screen. It does damage to my pleasure, And the words are plainly seen. I am really in earnest, As the titles onward roll; And so, when to me thou turnest, Do not read aloud their scroll. Many peevish eyes remind us, Tho each passage be sublime, Folks before and folks behind us All can read both prose and rhyme. In the scene of love and battle, As the swift film pictures life, If you do not cease your prattle, There most surely will be strife. Let us watch and see what’s doing Till the hast’ning drama ends, And not work the play’s undoing, Reading titles to our friends. The Radio Neighborhood (1922) While we have struggled patiently Toward the larger good, Friendship on every land and sea, A world-wide neighborhood, Space set its limits everywhere, Its hedging curtains swirled; But now we speed o’er land, through air, And talk around the world. Who is our neighbor? Yesterday It was the man whose home Was down the road or o’er the way Where we might often come. Today the golden tie that binds Men’s souls in joy or care, The word uniting hearts and minds, Is vibrant everywhere. The Section Foreman (1922) “I LIKE to have my section here The cleanest on the line. I tell the men to keep it clear Of every weed and vine. The ties are new. The rails are bright. The ballast’s firm and strong. The road’s a shining groove of light The trains may slip along.” “And on the road we all must take, The journey all pursue, Though ’tis not marked by line or stake, I have a section, too. ’Twill be inspected some bright day By the Great Judge divine, And how I’d like to hear Him say: ‛The cleanest on the line’!” The Shadow World (1922) There is a world of shadows; We see it on the screen --A world of grassy meadows, With sunlit streams between, Streams flowing to the ocean. They come from everywhere. Love, hope, despair, devotion, Joy, sorrow--all are there.