beginning of the school year of 1888. Of this permanent fund about $10,000 have been already secured. The friends. of the school are confident that, if its work is better known, the fund will be raised, and certainly it is very desirable to raise it in time to secure Dr. Waldstein. But the Managing Committee does not intend to abandon at once the plan that has worked so well of sending out American professors on an annual appointment. The Committee desires that an associate to the permanent Director be sent to Athens in the same general way in which the Directors have gone hitherto, and thus combine the advantages of the temporary and permanent directorships.
The union of colleges in this work has been extremely pleasant. Philology has never known a more catholic, unselfish, and harmonious undertaking. Students of any of the allied colleges may enjoy the privileges of the school on the recommendation of their classical instructors, and the same privileges are granted to all others who are properly recommended. The school itself has no scholarships, but the incumbent of the Soldiers' Memorial Fellowship at Yale may be allowed to spend his time at Athens in connection with this school, and for the next year a special Athenian scholarship has been created by an unnamed friend of learning and of Yale college.
While the school has no support from the government, like the similar institutions of France and Germany, it may perhaps depend safely on the wise liberality of our men of wealth and culture. Greece seems, indeed, to be far away; but we want to bring ancient Greece to our doors, and this contact with the land and air of Greece, this personal study of the monuments and topography, seems to promise a better appreciation of ancient life and history, and thus a better appreciation of the literature of the ancient Greeks. No one can know Greece of to-day without bettering his knowledge of Homer, Pindar, Thucydides, and Theocritus.
ARTICLE II.-A DISCIPLE OF JOHN.
Wait here, my son; beneath this olive tree
We'll rest awhile. Dost see far down the vale
The streak of silver where the Jordan winds
Among the grassy fields of Enon, fair
And clothed with living verdure, as of old
When John, my master, stood upon this plain?
And yonder, in the hazy distance, stands
Salim, the city of the purple hills.
It was in Enon that the Baptist taught,
And cried to all the world Repent, repent!
Then from the towns and country round about,
From near and far, in multitudes men came
Until it seemed the whole world came to him.
And there was one, thou know'st, he called the Lamb,
Who also was baptized of him, not here,
But lower down the Jordan's silver stream.
Then came men to my master, even John,
With strange reports of all the Lamb did do:
That men were healed, the blind restored to sight,
The lepers cleansed; and yet he seemed, they said,
A simple man, who went from place to place
With few to follow, save some needy friends.
Then John called Ezra to him, wise and good,
His father's friend, the eldest of our band.
Good Ezra, said he, sore perplexed am I;
I said, in truth, he is the Lamb of God,
But now some months are passed, and he delays
To tell the people that he is from God.
Now go, I pray thee, rise to-morrow morn,
Take with thee Uzal here, the lad thou lov'st,
And go to Jesus. When thou comest say:
John Baptist sent us unto thee to ask
Art thou Messias that should come, or look
We for another? Mark his answer well,
Then swift return, and bring me word again.
So on the morrow forth we fared-'twas then
I saw this olive first-and toward the north
We pushed our way to lower Galilee.
That night we lay at Nain, and there we heard
The wondrous story of the dead man raised.
And all along the way, where'er we passed
We saw and heard of cures most marvellous.
About the sixth hour of the second day
We came to Jesus. Round him was a throng
Of halt, and lame, and blind, and close at hand.
A little group of lepers, ghastly white,
Stood waiting to be healed. Long stood we there.
At last good Ezra, for the day waxed old,
Pushed through the throng and stood at Jesus' side,
And gave the message even as John said.
And he made answer: Go, said he, and tell
The Baptist all that ye have seen; the blind
Receive their sight, the lame are healed and walk,
The lepers cleansed, and to the poor is preached
The Gospel; blest is he who shall not be
In me offended. So we took our way
Again toward John.
The voice of Jesus ever called me back.
Most wondrous voice; its like was ne'er before
Nor yet shall be. Not like my master John's,
For when he cried Repent, repent, the sound
In solemn verberations shook men's souls,
And chased the faintest shadows in their minds
And terrified and brought them to his feet.
Not so the Lamb's voice. Hast thou heard the harp
Within the Temple, on the solemn feast?
Like to the deepest string, where strings are ten;
Sustained, and strong, and soft, at once, its sound.
So was his voice; and as the archer wings
His arrows to their mark, so flew his words.
To each they flew, as if each stood alone,
And talked with him as friend, in confidence
And comprehension that was perfectness.
So as we left him, still my soul returned.
Good Ezra, said I, pray thee say not nay,
But let me run back quickly to the Lamb.
I fain would hear again his voice, and see,
Perchance, more deeds as wondrous as before.
The sun is not yet set, and I am young
And swift of foot; before night falls I will
O'ertake thy steps, I pray thee, let me go.
And he made answer: Go my son, thy youth
Is in thy blood; go thou and see, and hear.
For me, what I have seen to-day gives food
To meditate upon a thousand years.
So straightway I returned with joy. I heard
Him speaking still as I came near, and all
The throng was hushed in silence for to hear.
What went ye to the wilderness to see?
A reed? a reed that's shaken with the wind?
What went ye to the wilderness to see?
A man in goodly raiment? they, behold,
In palaces of kings are surely found.
What went ye for to see? A prophet? Yea,
A prophet and much more. Of women born,
Than John the Baptist is no greater one.
My glad heart filled with love to hear such praise,
To hear such witness fall from Jesus' lips!
Then full of joy, I turned again, and ran
And told good Ezra all I heard.
The journey back to our dear master, John;
For each lived over in those weary leagues
The wonders of the few brief hours, and heard
Again that voice, whose words shall move the world.
And on the evening of the second day
We passed by Salim yonder, and we came
Unto this tree; and here our master came
To meet us. Sore perplexed he seemed. His eyes
Set in the caverns of his brow looked wild.
Erect and gaunt was he, with raven hair,
And strong large-featured face, with wondrous eyes,
That saw as they saw not, or seeing, saw
Strange sights, undreamt of by mere human gaze.
So stood he waiting while the sunset light
Made red a golden glory round his head.
Then Ezra told the message every word,
And told of all the wondrous deeds we saw.
Our master listened, as one thirsty drinks;
The words sunk in his spirit; and, at last,
Good Ezra said-and to the poor, He said,
Is preached the Gospel-then John raised his head,
And all his soul was in his eyes: My joy
Now therefore is fulfilled. He must increase,
And I must decrease. This my joy is now
Fulfilled. With solemn extasy he spoke;
The setting sun shot up his golden beams
To heaven, while his mighty spirit rose
On soaring wings of praise to God's great throne:
This my joy now therefore is fulfilled.
Thou knowest all that afterwards befell-
How John was taken, and by wicked hands
Beheaded; how the Lamb became in truth
The very Lamb of God, a sacrifice
For us. Some thou knowest thought that he
Was John the Baptist, risen from the dead.
These eyes beheld him, yea these ears once more
Were blest in hearing him say, Peace. I thought
That with him John might rise and come again,
Since of all prophets none was more than he.
But John rose not; and now these many years
I go from place to place, and preach the Lamb.
And often, lonely on some hill-top bare,
When starry night speaks peace unto my soul,
I ponder on that word that Jesus spake-
A prophet, yea and more. Of women born
Than John the Baptist is no greater one.
So often times I mused upon that word.
Than Moses greater? who from Egypt led
The people through the wilderness, who spoke
With God, to whom the law was given, whose words
Shall last through time? or than Elijah? bold,
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