To the Husbandman: A Poem

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TWO CLAIMANTS TO THE THRONE OF FRANCE. 517

one, has totally failed of solution. No compact can be entered into with any power, contiguous or remote, with absolute confidence on the part of that power that the compact will be kept. It pre-

sents a foreign policy as vacillating and hesitating as it is weak. And with the liberty it has given has it not invited disorder to that extent that the end has defeated the means? To change all this to cleanse the body politic of all impurities, impurities that have within them the seeds of a rapid decadence —and bring France out of the darkness into the light and make of her the pure, proud, powerful and progressive nation that she ought to be and can be, can only be brought about by the re-establishment of the monarchical idea. France may some day see the light as the monarchists profess to have it and discard the republic and call back again the monarchy; and again she may not. She may have shaken herself free forever of monarchical usages and traditions and determined to maintain her present form of government. As I said in the beginning it is a problem which only the future can solve.

TO THE HUSBANDMAN.

A little furrow holds thy scattered seed, One somewhat deeper will receive thy bones. — Yet plough and sow with gladness from the soil Springs the rich crop that feeds and gladdens life, And hope is not quite vanished from the grave. GOETHI