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: ERYTHEIA. READ ON THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE FIRST MEETING OF THE PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS.— COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION, I893. " Erytheia, the legendary region round the Pillars of Hercules, probably took its name from the redness of the west under which the Greeks saw it." Note of Matthew Arnold. None knew where the limit-line was drawn By viewless hands on the Orient seas, Or where the West removed when dawn Swept through the Pillars of Hercules. And many a sailor, with thoughts that burned 'Neath a formless incense-cloud of faith, Sat in his shallop and fondly turned To question the stars' resplendent wraith. Afar beyond where the wise ones said, Rose full on his dreams a visioned place. Was it a home for the happy dead, Or the golden land of a nobler race ? A sailor is man, or a landsman thrilled E'en yet with a faith that sends its crew Where he thinks the Orient waves are stilled, And the West begins in the fire-streaked blue. There are wings that oft in the tranquil air Show bright in the glance of the morning sun; They poise and flutter and vanish where The horizon flames when the day is done. There are triremes sailing far away 'Neath the purple clouds; and at night their oars Dip gold where the moonlit tides convey Ocean to ocean 'twixt unknown shores. There are Tritons, too, with horns of pearl; And far o'er the shimmering waves there sound To the mist-clad stars, when the waves up-curl, Such tones as from sea to sky rebound. Melodious winds drift through the trees; Are they echoed strains of man's songs unsung ? For this is the soul's Hesperides Where the apples grow and the heart is young. Never too high for the yearning hand, The wine-red fruit is forever fair. The white-breathed frosts in this sun... --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.