“THE QUIET LIFE”

CERTAIN VERSES BY VARIOUS HANDS: the Motive set forth in a PROLOGUE & EPILOGUE by AUSTIN DOBSON; the whole adorned with numerous Drawings by EDWIN A. ABBEY & ALFRED PARSONS

VEN as one in city pent. Dazed with the stir and din of town, Drums on the pane in discontent, And sees the dreary rain come down, Yet, through the dimmed and dripping glass, Beholds, in fancy, visions pass,

Of Spring that breaks with all her leaves, Of birds that build in thatch and eaves, Of woodlands where the throstle calls, Of girls that gather cowslip balls,

Of kine that low and lambs that cry, Of wains that jolt and rumble by, Of brooks that sing by brambly ways, Of sunburned folk that stand at gaze,

Of all the dreams with which men cheat The stony sermons of the street, So, in its hour, the artist brain Weary of human ills and woes, Weary of passion and of pain, And vaguely craving for repose, Deserts awhile the stage of strife To draw the even, ordered life, The easeful days, the dreamless nights, The homely round of plain delights, The calm, the unambitioned mind, Which all men seek, and few men find.