THERE are human beings who seem to regard the place as craftily as we do—who seem to feel that it is a good place to come home to. On what a river; wide—twinkling like a chopped sea under some of the finest shipping in the world: the square-rigged four-rigged four-master, the liner, the battleship like the two- thirds submerged section of an iceberg; the tug dipping and pushing, the bell striking as it comes; the steam yacht, lying like a new made arrow on the stream; the ferry-boat—a head assigned, one to each compartment, making a row of chessmen set for play. When the wind is from the east, the smell is of apples, of hay; the aroma increased and decreased as the wind changes; of rope, of mountain leaves for florists; as from the west, it is aromatic of salt. Occasionally a parrakeet from Brazil, arrives clasping and clawing; or a monkey—tail and feet in readiness for an over- ture; all arms and tail; how delightful! There is the sea, moving the bulk- head with its horse strength; and the multiplicity of rudders and propellors; the signals, shrill, questioning, peremptory, diverse; the wharf cats and the barge dogs; it is easy to overestimate the value of such things. One does not live in such a place from motives of expediency but because to one who has been accustomed to it, shipping is the most interesting thing in the world. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...GOD'S GARDEN by RICHARD EUGENE BURTON GOD by GABRIEL ROMANOVITCH DERZHAVIN SHE CAME AND WENT by JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL SIBERIA by JAMES CLARENCE MANGAN IMAGES: 2 by RICHARD ALDINGTON TO HAFIZ by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH THE STEAM-ENGINE: CANTO 10. THE RAILWAY BOOM, 1845 by T. BAKER |