E-text prepared by Joshua Hutchinson, Tonya Allen, and Project Gutenberg
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Weave no more silks, ye Lyons looms,
To deck our girls for gay delights!
The crimson flower of battle blooms,
And solemn marches fill the nights.
Weave but the flag whose bars to-day
Drooped heavy o'er our early dead,
And homely garments, coarse and gray,
For orphans that must earn their bread!
Keep back your tunes, ye viols sweet,
That pour delight from other lands!
Rouse there the dancer's restless feet,—
The trumpet leads our warrior bands.
And ye that wage the war of words
With mystic fame and subtle power,
Go, chatter to the idle birds,
Or teach the lesson of the hour!
Ye Sibyl Arts, in one stern knot
Be all your offices combined!
Stand close, while Courage draws the lot,
The destiny of humankind!
And if that destiny could fail,
The sun should darken in the sky,
The eternal bloom of Nature pale,
And God, and Truth, and Freedom die!
The Mother Theresa sat in a sort of withdrawing-room, the roof of whichrose in arches, starred with blue and gold like that of the cloister,and the sides were frescoed with scenes from the life of the Virgin.Over every door, and in convenient places between the paintings, testsof Holy Writ were illuminated in blue and scarlet and gold, with arichness and fancifulness of outline, as if every sacred letter hadblossomed into a mystical flower. The Abbess herself, with two of hernuns, was busily embroidering a new altar-cloth, with a lavish profusionof adornment; and, from time to time, their voices rose in the musicaltones of an ancient Latin hymn. The words were full of that quaintand mystical pietism with which the fashion of the times clothed theexpression of devotional feeling:—
"Jesu, corona virginum,
Quem mater illa concepit,
Quae sola virgo parturit,
Haec vota clemens accipe.
"Qui pascis inter lilia
Septus choreis virginum,
Sponsus decoris gloria
Sponsisque reddens praemia.
"Quocunque pergis, virgines
Sequuntur atque laudibus
Post te canentes cursitant
Hymnosque dulces personant[A]."
[Footnote A:
"Jesus, crown of virgin spirits,
Whom a virgin mother bore,
Graciously accept our praises
While thy footsteps we adore.
"Thee among the lilies feeding
Choirs of virgins walk beside,
Bridegroom crowned with glorious beauty
Giving beauty to thy bride.
"Where thou goest still they follow
Singing, singing as they move,
All those souls forever virgin
Wedded only to thy love."]
This little canticle was, in truth, very different from the hymnsto Venus which used to resound in the temple which the convent haddisplaced. The voices which sang were of a deep, plaintive contralto,much resembling the richness of a tenor,