And who slays me must overcome a world: Heroes at arms, and virgins who became Mothers of children, prophecy and song; Walls of old cities with their flags unfurled; Peaks, headlands, ocean and its isles of fame— And sun and moon and all that made me strong! _Sarah N. Cleghorn_ Sarah Norcliffe Cleghorn was born at Norfolk, Virginia, February 4, 1876. She came North early in her youth and was graduated from Burr and Burton Seminary in Manchester, Vermont (in 1895), in which town, after a year at Radcliffe, she has lived ever since. An ardent worker for lost causes, Miss Cleghorn’s fiery spirit shines through _Portraits and Protests_ (1917), the first half of which is coolly descriptive and the second half, hotly insurrectionary verse. THE SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST “The unfit die: the fit both live and thrive.” Alas, who say so?—They who do survive. So when her bonfires lighted hill and plain, Did Bloody Mary think on Lady Jane. So Russia thought of Finland, while her heel Fell heavier on the prostrate commonweal. So Booth of Lincoln thought: and so the High Priests let Barabbas live, and Jesus die. THE INCENTIVE I saw a sickly cellar plant Droop on its feeble stem, for want Of sun and wind and rain and dew— Of freedom!—Then a man came through The cellar, and I heard him say, “Poor, foolish plant, by all means stay Contented here: for—know you not?— This stagnant dampness, mould and rot Are your incentive to grow tall And reach that sunbeam on the wall.” —Even as he spoke, the sun’s one spark Withdrew, and left the dusk more dark. _Carl Sandburg_ Carl (August) Sandburg was born of Swedish stock at Galesburg, Illinois, January 6, 1878. His schooling was haphazard; at thirteen he went to work on a milk wagon. During the next six years he was, in rapid succession, porter in a barber-shop, scene-shifter in a cheap theatre, truck-handler in a brickyard, turner apprentice in a pottery, dish-washer in Denver and Omaha hotels, harvest hand in Kansas wheat fields. These tasks equipped him, as no amount of learning could have done, to be the laureate of industrial America. When war with Spain was declared in 1898, Sandburg, avid for fresh adventure, enlisted in Company C., Sixth Illinois Volunteers.