every life, and has drawn us into sympathy with the exquisite moral lesson to be gleaned. The Catholic Church had this poem printed in a tract which was scattered far and wide as a powerful instrument to influence humanity toward the fulfilment of its highest visions. THE TAPESTRY WEAVERS Let us take to our hearts a lesson-no lesson can braver be From the ways of the tapestry weavers on the other side of the sea. Above their heads the pattern hangs; they study it with care. The while their fingers deftly work, their eyes are fastened there. They tell this curious thing, besides, of the patient, plodding weaver: He works on the wrong side evermore, but works for the right side ever. It is only when the weaving stops, and the web is loosed and turned, That he sees his real handiwork—that his marvellous skill is learned. Ah! the sight of its delicate beauty, how it pays him for all the cost! No rarer, daintier work than his was ever done by the frost. Then the master bringeth him golden hire, and giveth him praise as well; And how happy the heart of the weaver is no tongue but his own can tell. The years of man are the looms of God, let down from the place of the sun, Wherein we are weaving alway, till the mystic web is done. THE TAPESTRY WEAVERS 225 Weaving blindly, but weaving surely, each for himself his fate. We may not see how the right side looks, we can only weave and wait. But, looking above for the pattern, no weaver need have fear. Only let him look clear into heaven-the Perfect Pattern is there. If he keeps the face of our Saviour forever and always in sight, His toil shall be sweeter than honey, his weaving is sure to be right. And when his task is ended, and the web is turned and shown, He shall hear the voice of the Master. It shall say to him, "Well done!" And the white-winged angels of heaven, to bear him thence, shall come down; And God for his wage shall give him, not coin, but a golden crown. SUGGESTIVE EXERCISES 1. Describe in general the process of tapestry weaving. 2. What was the "pattern"? Why did it have to be studied with care? 3. Explain "He works on the wrong side evermore, but works for the right side ever." 4. How is the weaver paid for his task? What is his best pay? 5. Just what is included in "all the cost"? 6. Explain "looms of God," "mystic web." 7. What is the "right side"? 8. Why can we not see it? 9. Why is Perfect Pattern capitalized? 10. Explain the meaning of "web is turned and shown." 11. Under what conditions, according to this poem, can the lifework of the individual be a true success? REFERENCES MILLIE COLCORD: Life's Weaving. LONGFELLOW: Keramos. POE: Israfel. THOMAS WADE: The Net Braiders. S. W. DUFFIELD: Warp and Woof. JOHN FRANCIS O'DONNELL: A Spinning Song. ALICE C. MCDONNELL: The Weaving of the Tartan. BETH DAY: The Blind Weaver. IN THE THREE FISHERS CHARLES KINGSLEY N his walks and talks among the fisher folk of his native England, the poet, Kingsley, was struck by the sadness in the faces of the women and children of the fishing hamlets. He noticed, too, a stern reticence and a desperate courage that seemed to characterize the faces of the men, whose necessities of life and intensity of love for family forced them to brave the eternal peril of the sea every day. Despite their heroism, they held these forces of nature in almost reverential awe, though there was such a spirit of fraternal helpfulness and sympathy in their simple hearts that they overcame their awe in times of danger to friends and companions. Having sought and, as he thinks, found the cause of these things, he gives us in this poem a résumé of his work. The simple tale is a typical life history of the fisherman and his family. THE THREE FISHERS Three fishers went sailing out into the west, Out into the west as the sun went down; Each thought of the woman who loved him the best, And the children stood watching them out of the town; For men must work and women must weep, And there's little to earn and many to keep, Though the harbor bar be moaning. Three wives sat up in the lighthouse tower, And they trimmed the lamps as the sun went down ; They looked at the squall and they looked at the shower; And the night-rack came rolling up, ragged and brown; But men must work, and women must weep, Though storms be sudden, and waters deep, Three corpses lay out on the shining sands In the morning gleam as the tide went down, And the women are weeping and wringing their hands, For those who will never come back to the town; For men must work and women must weep, And the sooner it's over the sooner to sleepAnd good-bye to the bar and its moaning. SUGGESTIVE EXERCISES 1. When do laboring people find cause for such thoughts as those mentioned in line 3? 2. Would curiosity alone cause the children to come to watch workmen out of the town? 3. Whose thought is line 5? 4. When does a harbor bar moan? 5. What would the work described in line 9 cause these women to think of? 6. Was what they did in line 10 remarkable? 7. Is that line useful other than to fill space? 8. What is "the night-rack"? 9. Why does the poet mention so common an occurrence as the approach of a storm? 10. Notice the line that is repeated is the fifth line of each stanza. Now read it and the sixth line of each stanza consecutively, closing the reading with the last line of the poem. What does this do for us? 11. What seems to be the fisher folks' attitude toward their life work? 12. What would be the effect on one's character of having daily to contend against irresistible and cruel powers? 13. Does any one other than a fisherman have to do this? 14. Is there a life lesson in this for you and me? |