Ah! who shall look backward with scorn and derision And scoff the old book though it uselessly lies In the dust of the past, while this newer revision Lisps on of a hope and a home in the skies? Shall the voice of the Master be stifled and riven? Shall we hear but a tithe of the words He has said, When so long He has, listening, leaned out of Heaven To hear the old Bible my grandfather read? The old-fashioned Bible-- The dust-covered Bible-- The leathern-bound Bible my grandfather read. {58} [Illustration: Good-by er howdy-do--headpiece] GOOD-BY ER HOWDY-DO Say good-by er howdy-do-- What's the odds betwixt the two? Comin'--goin', ev'ry day-- Best friends first to go away-- Grasp of hands you'd ruther hold Than their weight in solid gold Slips their grip while greetin' you.-- Say good-by er howdy-do! {59} Howdy-do, and then, good-by-- Mixes jes' like laugh and cry; Deaths and births, and worst and best, Tangled their contrariest; Ev'ry jinglin' weddin'-bell Skeerin' up some funer'l knell.-- Here's my song, and there's your sigh.-- Howdy-do, and then, good-by! Say good-by er howdy-do-- Jes' the same to me and you; 'Taint worth while to make no fuss, 'Cause the job's put up on us! Some One's runnin' this concern That's got nothin' else to learn: Ef _He's_ willin', we'll pull through-- Say good-by er howdy-do! [Illustration: Good-by er howdy-do--tailpiece] {60} WHEN WE THREE MEET When we three meet? Ah! friend of mine Whose verses well and flow as wine,-- My thirsting fancy thou dost fill With draughts delicious, sweeter still Since tasted by those lips of thine. I pledge thee, through the chill sunshine Of autumn, with a warmth divine, Thrilled through as only I shall thrill When we three meet. I pledge thee, if we fast or dine, We yet shall loosen, line by line, Old ballads, and the blither trill Of our-time singers--for there will Be with us all the Muses nine When we three meet. {61} [Illustration: "The little man in the tinshop"--headpiece] "THE LITTLE MAN IN THE TINSHOP" When I was a little boy, long ago, And spoke of the theater as the "show," The first one that I went to see, Mother's brother it was took me-- (My uncle, of course, though he seemed to be Only a boy--I loved him so!) And ah, how pleasant he made it all! And the things he knew that _I_ should know!-- The stage, the "drop," and the frescoed wall; The sudden flash of the lights; and oh, The orchestra, with its melody, And the lilt and jingle and jubilee Of "The Little Man in the Tinshop"! {62}