[Illustration]
Jack in the Pulpit
Preaches to-day,
Squirrel and song-sparrow,
High on their perch,
Hear the sweet lily-bells
Ringing to church.
Come, hear what his reverence
Rises to say,
In his low, painted pulpit,
This calm Sabbath-day.
Fair is the canopy
Over him seen,
Pencilled by Nature’s hand
Black, brown, and green.
Green is his surplice,
Green are his bands;
In his queer little pulpit
The little priest stands.
In black and gold velvet,
So gorgeous to see,
Comes with his bass voice
The chorister bee.
Green fingers playing
Unseen on wind-lyres,--
Low singing bird-voices,--
These are his choirs.
The violets are deacons;
I know by their sign
That the cups which they carry
Are purple with wine.
And the columbines bravely
As sentinels stand
On the look-out, with all their
Red trumpets in hand.
Meek-faced anemones
Drooping and sad;
Great yellow violets
Smiling out glad;
Buttercups’ faces
Beaming and bright;
Clovers, with bonnets--
Some red and some white;
Daisies, their white fingers
Half-clasped in prayer;
Dandelions proud of
The gold of their hair;
Innocents, children
Guileless and frail,
Meek little faces
Upturned and pale;
Wild-wood geraniums,
All in their best,
Languidly leaning
In purple gauze dressed;--
All are assembled
This sweet Sabbath day
To hear what the priest in his pulpit will say.
Look! white Indian pipes
On the green mosses lie!
Who has been smoking
Profanely so nigh?
Rebuked by the preacher
The mischief is stopped,
And the sinners, in haste,
Have their little pipes dropped.
Let the wind, with the fragrance
Of fern and black-birch,
Blow the smell of the smoking
Clean out of the church!
So much for the preacher:
The sermon comes next;--
Shall we tell how he preached it,
And what was his text?
Alas! like too many
Grown-up folk who play
At worship in churches
Man-builded to-day--
We heard not the preacher
Expound or discuss;
But we looked at the people
And they looked at us;
We saw all their dresses,
Their colors and shapes,
The trim of their bonnets,
The cut of their capes;
We heard the wind-organ,
The bee and the bird,
But of Jack in the Pulpit we heard not a word!