Hark: A Poem

912 IMPRO VEMENT ERA. dents was hurrying down the hall when Henry Owens called out laughingly, "There goes the fellow that killed your petition, Lottie." For a moment Phil paused, ready to throw back some retort at Owens. I>ut before he could form the sentence, Lottie replied sneeringly, "I suppose we ought to pity instead of chide him; he's only an ignorant cow-boy.'' She spoke the words loud enough to reach Phil's ears as he passed out of the building. A heavy weight fell on his heart, a shadow swept across his path. "Only an ignorant cow-boy!" he muttered, half dazed,—"only an ignorant cow-boy!" It was as if his own statue had suddenly been unveiled before him, and he stood gazing in wonder at the revelation. Yes, it was true. He was "only an ignorant cow-boy!" His extravagant ambition shrank away in the shadows and his bright hopes faded into regret. (to be continued.) Hark! (For the Improvement Era.) Hark, it is Israel's armies assembling, Flinging the gates of the nations ajar; List, how the highways are groaning and trembling, Under the tramp of his legion afar. Once he was humbled and conquered and scattered Over the earth like a handful of grain; Now he is bursting the bands that have fettered, Down the long ages, his spirit and brain. Unlock your treasures, ye vales and ye mountains, Throw wide your gates and give Israel a place, Yield us, ye deserts, your springs and your fountains, Lifting the mask and revealing your face. Here is a country devoid of a nation, Here is a people devoid of a land! Each for the other a mighty salvation, Wed in the midst of a desert of sand. Theodore E. Curtis.