A recent discovery has brought to light the long-hidden papers of the
Re-Echo Club. This is a great find, and all lovers of masterpieces of
the world's best literature will rejoice with us that we are enabled to
publish herewith a few of these gems of great minds. Little is known of
the locale or clientele of this club, but it was doubtless a successor
of the famous Echo Club of Boston memory, for, like that erudite body,
it takes pleasure in trying to better what is done. On the occasion of
the meeting of which the following gems of poesy are the result, the
several members of the club engaged to write up the well-known tradition
of the Purple Cow in more elaborate form than the quatrain made famous
by Mr. Gelett Burgess:
"I never saw a Purple Cow,
I never hope to see one;
But I can tell you, anyhow,
I'd rather see than be one."
The first attempt here cited is the production of Mr. John Milton:
Hence, vain, deluding cows.
The herd of folly, without color bright,
How little you delight,
Or fill the Poet's mind, or songs arouse!
But, hail! thou goddess gay of feature!
Hail! divinest purple creature!
Oh, Cow, thy visage is too bright
To hit the sense of human sight.
And though I'd like, just once, to see thee,
I never, never, never'd be thee!