<h2><SPAN name="page41"></SPAN><span class="pagenum"></span>Realization.</h2>
<p class="poetry">HERS was a lonely, shadowed lot;<br/>
Or so the unperceiving thought,<br/>
Who looked no deeper than her face,<br/>
Devoid of chiseled lines of grace—<br/>
No farther than her humble grate,<br/>
And wondered how she bore her fate.</p>
<p class="poetry">Yet she was neither lone nor sad;<br/>
So much of love her spirit had,<br/>
She found an ever-flowing spring<br/>
Of happiness in everything.</p>
<p class="poetry">So near to her was Nature’s heart<br/>
It seemed a very living part<br/>
Of her own self; and bud and blade,<br/>
And heat and cold, and sun and shade,<br/>
And dawn and sunset, Spring and Fall,<br/>
Held raptures for her, one and all.</p>
<p class="poetry"><SPAN name="page42"></SPAN><span class="pagenum">p.
42</span>The year’s four changing seasons brought<br/>
To her own door what thousands sought<br/>
In wandering ways and did not find—<br/>
Diversion and content of mind.</p>
<p class="poetry">She loved the tasks that filled each
day—<br/>
Such menial duties; but her way<br/>
Of looking at them lent a grace<br/>
To things the world deemed commonplace.</p>
<p class="poetry">Obscure and without place or name,<br/>
She gloried in another’s fame.<br/>
Poor, plain and humble in her dress,<br/>
She thrilled when beauty and success<br/>
And wealth passed by, on pleasure bent;<br/>
They made earth seem so opulent.<br/>
Yet none of quicker sympathy,<br/>
When need or sorrow came, than she.<br/>
And so she lived, and so she died.</p>
<p class="poetry">She woke as from a dream. How wide<br/>
And wonderful the avenue<br/>
That stretched to her astonished view!<br/>
<SPAN name="page43"></SPAN><span class="pagenum"></span>And up the
green ascending lawn<br/>
A palace caught the rays of dawn.<br/>
Then suddenly the silence stirred<br/>
With one clear keynote of a bird;<br/>
A thousand answered, till ere long<br/>
The air was quivering bits of song.<br/>
She rose and wandered forth in awe,<br/>
Amazed and moved by all she saw,<br/>
For, like so many souls who go<br/>
Away from earth, she did not know<br/>
The cord was severed.</p>
<p class="poetry"> Down
the street,<br/>
With eager arms stretched forth to greet,<br/>
Came one she loved and mourned in youth;<br/>
Her mother followed; then the truth<br/>
Broke on her, golden wave on wave,<br/>
Of knowledge infinite. The grave,<br/>
The body and the earthly sphere<br/>
Were gone! Immortal life was here!<br/>
They led her through the Palace halls;<br/>
<SPAN name="page44"></SPAN><span class="pagenum"></span>From
gleaming mirrors on the walls<br/>
She saw herself, with radiant mien,<br/>
And robed in splendor like a queen,<br/>
While glory round about her shone.<br/>
“All this,” Love murmured, “is your
own.”<br/>
And when she gazed with wondering eye,<br/>
And questioned whence and where and why,<br/>
Love answered thus: “All Heaven is made<br/>
By thoughts on earth; your walls were laid,<br/>
Year after year, of purest gold;<br/>
The beauty of your mind behold<br/>
In this fair palace; aye, and more<br/>
Waits farther on, so vast your store.<br/>
I was not worthy when I died<br/>
To take my place here at your side;<br/>
I toiled through long and weary years<br/>
From lower planes to these high spheres;<br/>
And through the love you sent from earth<br/>
I have attained a second birth.<br/>
Oft when my erring soul would tire<br/>
I felt the strength of your desire;<br/>
I heard you breathe my name in prayer,<br/>
And courage conquered weak despair.<br/>
Ah! earth needs heaven, but heaven indeed<br/>
Of earth has just as great a need.”</p>
<p class="poetry"><SPAN name="page45"></SPAN><span class="pagenum">p.
45</span>Across the terrace with a bound<br/>
There sped a lambkin and a hound<br/>
(Dumb comrades of the old earth land)<br/>
And fondled her caressing hand.<br/>
“YOU LOVED THEM INTO PARADISE,”<br/>
Was answered to her questioning eyes;<br/>
“You taught them love; love has no end!<br/>
Nor does love’s life on form depend.<br/>
If there be mortal without love,<br/>
He wakes to no new life above.<br/>
If love in humbler things exist,<br/>
It must through other realms persist<br/>
Until all love rays merge in HIM.<br/>
Hark! Hear the heavenly Cherubim!”</p>
<p class="poetry">Then hushed and awed, with joy so vast<br/>
It knew no future and no past,<br/>
She stood amidst the radiant throng<br/>
That came to swell love’s welcoming song—<br/>
This humble soul from earth’s far coast<br/>
The center of the heavenly host.</p>
<p class="poetry">On earth they see her grave and say:<br/>
“She lies there till the judgment day;”<br/>
Nor dream, so limited their thought,<br/>
What miracles by love are wrought.</p>
<h2><SPAN name="page46"></SPAN><span class="pagenum"></span>ELLA WHEELER WILCOX’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY</h2>
<p>This is called “<i>The Story of a Literary
Career</i>,” wherein Mrs. Wilcox tells the story of her own
life.</p>
<p>It is a modest little book, beautifully printed on fine paper,
with artistic half-tone pictures of Mrs. Wilcox and her famous
home, The Bungalow. Bound in heavy Old Stratford, printed
in two colors.</p>
<p style="text-align: center"><b>PRICE, 50 CENTS,
POSTPAID</b></p>
<p style="text-align: center"><span class="GutSmall">—
Published by —</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center">ELIZABETH TOWNE, -
- Holyoke, Mass.</p>
<div class="gapline"> </div>
<h2>THE NAUTILUS</h2>
<p>This is Elizabeth Towne’s monthly magazine, of
Self-Help, for which Mrs. Wilcox wrote 26 new poems in two
years. Mrs. Wilcox recommends the magazine to her
friends. Also some of Mrs. Towne’s books. Ask
for sample copy of <i>THE NAUTILUS</i> and you will learn about
the books.</p>
<p style="text-align: center"><span class="GutSmall">—
ADDRESS —</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center">ELIZABETH TOWNE, -
- Holyoke, Mass.</p>
<div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />