"It is the mountain to the sea That makes a messenger of me: And, lest I loiter on the way And lose what I am sent to say, He sets his reverie to song And bids me sing it all day long. Farewell! for here the stream is slow, And I have many a mile to go." [Footnote: _Poems_, 1894.] _The Water Lily_ is another dainty product, full of poetic feeling for nature:-- "Whence, O fragrant form of light, Hast thou drifted through the night, Swanlike, to a leafy nest, On the restless waves, at rest? "Art thou from the snowy zone Of a mountain-summit blown, Or the blossom of a dream, Fashioned in the foamy stream?" [Footnote: _The Water Lily_, from _Poems_, 1894.] In _Quips and Quiddits_ he loves to show that type of humor dependent on unexpected changes in the meaning of words. The following lines illustrate this characteristic:-- "To jewels her taste did incline; But she had not a trinket to wear Till she slept after taking quinine, And awoke with a ring in each ear." Tabb's power lay in condensing into a small compass a single thought or feeling and giving it complete artistic expression. The more serious poems, especially the sacred ones, sometimes seem to have too slight a body to carry their full weight of thought, but the idea is always fully expressed, no matter how narrow the compass of the verse. His poetry usually has the qualities of lightness, airiness, and fancifulness. JOEL CHANDLER HARRIS, 1848-1908 [Illustration: JOEL CHANDLER HARRIS]