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...OFFICE PARTY: DISTAFF VIEW by KAREN SWENSON TWO RIVERS by RALPH WALDO EMERSON THE INDIAN BURYING GROUND by PHILIP FRENEAU THE DREAM OF EUGENE ARAM, THE MURDERER by THOMAS HOOD THE STEAM-ENGINE: CANTO 10. THE RAILWAY BOOM, 1845 by T. BAKER |