No curfew had rung from some distant tower,
To remind him that evening was not far spent,
His slow plodding steps had passed nearly an hour,
After a veteran's prayers to heaven are sent.

The weary old man turned down the long walk.
With the help of his staff-the branch of a pine-
On the well-barred door, just a three-mystic-knock

Dan had heard the prayer, Ben was late to his shrine.

"Who comes there?" asked the man just ready for bed; "It is I," cried the stranger, "I want to come in ; I have visited the sick, I've obeyed what He said; I am cold, I am weary, I too, trust in Him,"

The stranger then waited, and leaned on his staff,

Expecting a welcome, but he heard with chagrin : "Give me some Word, spoken, in letters, or a half, For, I know of no man named I, He, or Him."

The stranger then thought, don't the godman in there,
Rememder those words, I AM, and THOU ART?

I will wait, let him ponder on his recent prayer,
Let me see if his words went up from his heart.

The stranger again made an alarm at the door,
This time he knocked twice, to shorten the test;
"Who comes there?" the question, the same as before;
"It is I," cried the stranger,

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66

pray, heed my request."

"I, who is I," said a voice, as if in some fear;

The stranger then thought, don't the godman know I?

Let him ponder awhile, and perhaps he will hear

The "still small voice" who is always nigh.

After waiting awhile, the weather grew bleak,

And glancing around, he knew by the glow

Of the light through the shutter, the embers were weak, And the stranger thought, " He will make him know."

With his staff he then gave just one distinct knock,
Both hands of the dial were pointing to heaven ;
Low twelve produced silence, then finished the clock,
The prayer "In His Name," was finished past eleven.

A moment of silence, then again, "WHO COMES THERE?"
Much louder, emphatic, in a stentorian tone;

How it rung out into that dark midnight air,

How that stranger was startled, there waiting alone.

He contemplated the scene, how once, twice, and thrice,
The question was asked, Dan knew those words, too,
He will make him know," then he responded precise,
"It is not only I, but IT IS THOU,”—and he knew.

That THOU touched the heart of the veteran inside,
He felt for the stranger, as man feels for man ;
The door was unbarred and swung open wide,

"For God's sake, cried Ben, "Is this, old friend Dan?"

That shake of the hands, and that warm-hearted grip, "That fellow feeling that makes one wondrous kind,” Told more of Friendship, than the human lip

Could speak in pass-words scarce ever in mind.

This good old friend Dan was made welcome and warm,
By his former old friend, as the legends state,
And ne'er after that in fair weather or in storm,

At that veteran's door was stranger known to wait.

They reviewed their past lives, of fifty years sped,
The ups and the downs, and anent pleasant things;
But a-thousand-and-one such, related and said,
Like other events have taken themselves wings.

So in this brotherhood, composed of good men,
Should we not take heed and remember our vow,
The lesson thus given, we may practice, and then

We will have less of great I, and a little more Thou.