Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: THE BIOGRAPHER The little green lizard on Solomon's wall Basked in the gold of a shimmering noon. Heard the insistent, imperious call Of hautboy and tabor and loud bassoon, When Balkis passed by, with her alien grace, And the light of wonder upon her face, To sit by the King in his lofty hall,— And the little green lizard saw it all. The little green lizard on Solomon's wall Waited for flies the long day through, While the craftsmen came at the monarch's call To the task that was given each man to do, And the Temple rose with its cunning wrought gold, Cedar and silver, and all it could hold In treasure of tapestry, silk and shawl,— And the little green lizard observed it all. The little green lizard on Solomon's wall Heard what the King said to one alone, Secrets that only the Djinns may recall, Graved on the Sacred, Ineffable Stone. And yet, when the little green lizard was led To speak of the King, when the King was dead, He had only kept count of the flies on the wall,— For he was but a lizard, after all! BASIL THE SCRIBE HOW AN IRISH MONK IN AN ENGLISH ABBEY CAME TO STAND BEFORE KINGS BROTHER BASIL, of the scriptorium, was doing two things at once with the same brain. He did not know whether any of the other monks ever indulged in this or not. None of them showed any signs of it. The Abbot was clearly intent, soul, brain and body, on the ruling of the community. In such a house as this dozens of widely varied industries must be carried on, much time spent in prayer, song and meditation, and strict attention given to keeping in every detail the traditional Benedictine rule. In many mediaeval Abbeys not all these things were done. Rumor hinted that one Order was too fond of ease, and another of increasing its estates. In the Irish Abbey wh...