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John Bartlett (1820–1905). Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. 1919.

Page 767

 
 
John Townsend Trowbridge. (1827– ?) (continued)
 
7582
    Darius was clearly of the opinion
That the air is also man’s dominion,
And that, with paddle or fin or pinion,
      We soon or late
      Shall navigate
The azure, as now we sail the sea.
          Darius Green and his Flying-Machine.
7583
    Of nothing comes nothing: springs rise not above
  Their source in the far-hidden heart of the mountains:
Whence then have descended the Wisdom and Love
  That in man leap to light in intelligent fountains?
          The missing Leaf.
7584
    If you will observe, it does n’t take
A man of giant mould to make
A giant shadow on the wall;
And he who in our daily sight
Seems but a figure mean and small,
Outlined in Fame’s illusive light,
May stalk, a silhouette sublime,
Across the canvas of his time.
          Authors’ Night.
7585
    Men are polished, through act and speech,
      Each by each,
As pebbles are smoothed on the rolling beach.
          A Home Idyl.
7586
    Our days, our deeds, all we achieve or are,
Lay folded in our infancy; the things
  Of good or ill we choose while yet unborn.
          Sonnet. Nativity.
7587
    Not in rewards, but in the strength to strive,
  The blessing lies.
          Twoscore and Ten.
7588
    I keep some portion of my early gleam;
  Brokenly bright, like moonbeams on a river,
It lights my life, a far illusive dream,
  Moves as I move, and leads me on forever.
          Twoscore and Ten.