# All Quiet along the Potomac and other poems

All Quiet Along the Potomac,
AND
OTHER POEMS.
BY
ETHEL LYNN BEERS
PORTER & COATES,
PHILADELPHIA.
Copyright, 1879, by PORTER & COATES
* PREFACE.
* THE poems now collected for the first time have been contributed during several years to various publications—the earlier ones to Harper's Magazine and Weekly, and most of the later ones to the N. Y. Ledger. Copied by other papers, with due credit given, perhaps, at first, some of them have become nameless waifs floating on the sea of print.
* The poor "Picket," whose unquiet ghost refuses to remain laid "All Quiet along the Potomac," where I left him years ago, has several claimants, all with "authentic proofs of authorship," and "Which shall it Be?" reappears under various titles at regular intervals.
* So I have gathered, for the friendly hands that care to hold it, this handful of white clover and daisies. I have found Life's poetry and pathos blooming beside its trodden paths and by the doorways of its homes. If some gentle heart shall find within this sheaf some treasured waif or song remembered, or if words yet unfamiliar bring to me one new friend, I have not rhymed in vain.
* ETHEL LYNN BEERS.
* Orange, June 2, 1879.
CONTENTS.
| ALL Quiet Along the Potomac | 13 |
| On the Shores of Tennessee | 15 |
| Whisper Softly, stainless Lilies | 18 |
| Company K | 19 |
| Our Folks | 21 |
| Picking Hops | 24 |
| On Guard | 25 |
| Fire-Proof. | 27 |
| Given, not Hired | 29 |
| Three Scenes in One Woman's Life | 30 |
| Midnight | 32 |
| No Name | 34 |
| Out of Style | 36 |
| The Evergreen's Moan | 38 |
| The November Garden | 40 |
| By the Cottonwood Tree | 42 |
| The Birds Camp-meeting | 45 |
| "Svala, Svala Honom!" | 47 |
| The Moon that Shone in Paradise | 48 ​ |
| Straw Paper | 50 |
| Four-leaved Clover | 51 |
| Worldly Wisdom | 53 |
| Songs under the Ice | 55 |
| A Dreamer's Tale | 57 |
| Old-fashioned Flowers | 59 |
| One Summer | 60 |
| Because a Time may Come | 62 |
| A Year-old Sorrow | 63 |
| Grandma's Christmas | 65 |
| "The Common People heard Him gladly" | 66 |
| A Seat in the City Cars | 68 |
| Noonday Rest | 69 |
| Gone to the Country | 71 |
| Life's Holidays | 72 |
| Incorrigible | 74 |
| Into our New Home | 76 |
| Scattered Roses | 77 |
| St. John's Wort | 79 |
| The Doorway of Sleep | 80 |
| Which shall it Be? | 82 |
| Baby Looking out for Me | 85 |
| The Captive Cloud | 86 |
| Human Eyes | 88 |
| Life's Soldiers | 89 |
| The Black Sheep | 91 ​ |
| Holly and Mistletoe | 94 |
| The Stranger s Prayer | 96 |
| A Word to the Old Garret | 97 |
| Daisy s Good-bye to her Doll | 99 |
| Purple | 100 |
| When Jonquils Bloom | 102 |
| One to Lose, but Three to Mourn | 104 |
| Planted by the River | 106 |
| A New Friend | 107 |
| Rich and Poor | 108 |
| Who Sails with the Ship? | 116 |
| Frost-smitten | 117 |
| Floating | 119 |
| Out with the Tide | 121 |
| Lights and Shadows | 123 |
| A November Good-Night | 125 |
| On the Stairs | 126 |
| Hidden Glory | 128 |
| Hester s Jewels | 130 |
| Dominic Day | 131 |
| Weighing the Baby | 134 |
| Fair Glances | 136 |
| The Gold Nugget | 138 |
| The Carpet of Life | 140 |
| In the Fall | 142 |
| The Boys | 143 ​ |
| Star-Blooms | 146 |
| Cares I have Not | 147 |
| Drifted Away | 149 |
| Until Next Summer | 153 |
| In the Night | 154 |
| A Glad To-morrow | 156 |
| The Friend in Shadow | 157 |
| One Forest-Fire | 159 |
| The Waxen Lily | 161 |
| Tracks in the Snow | 163 |
| Little Jo | 165 |
| Grannie's Test | 166 |
| Nobody Knows | 168 |
| Old School and New | 170 |
| The Baggage-Wagon | 171 |
| North Conway | 173 |
| Lady Bug | 175 |
| Santa Claus's Mistake | 177 |
| The Fairie Fern | 179 |
| Courageous Fear | 182 |
| Gold and Crimson | 184 |
| The Sunken Island | 186 |
| "Rack-o Bones" | 188 |
| Don't Wake the Baby | 191 |
| Bridges | 192 |
| The Garden-Gate | 194 ​ |
| The Wife's Letter | 196 |
| Tell me, Mother | 198 |
| The Lesson of a Shadow | 199 |
| Shadows of Threescore and Ten | 201 |
| Earth's Angels | 202 |
| The Ship of the Summer-time | 204 |
| The Gray Boatman | 206 |
| The Old Doorstone | 208 |
| The Sunshine s Story | 210 |
| A Day's Campaign | 212 |
| At Last | 213 |
| The Ones who are left Behind | 216 |
| The Reason Why | 218 |
| "With Care" | 220 |
| The Deacon's Trial | 221 |
| The Spirit's Journey to Dream-land | 223 |
| A Discontented Leaf | 225 |
| The Christmas Sheaf | 227 |
| A Lost Summer | 228 |
| John Gray, Junior | 230 |
| Mabel's Mission | 232 |
| A Question | 234 |
| Even Measure | 236 |
| Bloom above, and Labor under | 238 |
| A Shining Link | 239 |
| The Postman of the Air | 241 ​ |
| Woman's Kingdom | 242 |
| Paris Fashions.—(War Time) | 244 |
| Over the Lake | 246 |
| Ruth and Lot | 247 |
| Beside a Fairy Fire | 249 |
| Teddy s Letter | 250 |
| Here and There | 252 |
| The Last Letter | 253 |
| The Tuberose | 254 |
| John Eliot, the Indian Apostle | 256 |
| Hymn | 261 |
| Dinners and Darns | 262 |
| The Tree of Youth | 263 |
| Attained | 264 |
| Garland or Hawser | 266 |
| The Lost Key | 268 |
| Charcoal s Story | 269 |
| Through the Mist | 271 |
| Camp-meeting Sunday at Ocean Grove | 273 |
| A Sunday Evening Beach-service at Ocean Grove | 275 |
| Better than Diamonds | 277 |
| Home from Meeting | 280 |
| The Unbidden Guest | 283 |
| Growler Grim's Dream | 285 |
| Is it Wise? | 288 |
| The Midnight Guest | 289 ​ |
| Then and Now | 291 |
| Forgive Her? No, Never! | 293 |
| A Little While | 295 |
| Grandmother's Love-letter | 297 |
| My Namesake | 299 |
| The Dragon-Fly s Quest | 300 |
| Tree-top Trouble | 302 |
| The Rose of the Ring | 303 |
| Time's Triumph | 306 |
| The Daffodils never Forget | 308 |
| A Lover's Stratagem | 310 |
| In Danger | 311 |
| Hill and Shore | 312 |
| A Question | 313 |
| The Farmer's Wife | 315 |
| Off Barnegat | 317 |
| Reunited | 321 |
| A Bachelor's Bride | 322 |
| An Old Man | 323 |
| The Snow that lies Between | 326 |
| Sympathy | 327 |
| Aunt Abby's Wings | 328 |
| Going to Sleep | 330 |
| The Buried Ship | 331 |
| Baby-Love | 333 |
| The Baby's Coming | 334 ​ |
| Very Early | 336 |
| The Letters that Come Not | 337 |
| The Voice of the Children's Bell | 339 |
| Hum-Bird and Bumble | 340 |
| Baby is King | 342 |
| Johnnie s Opinion of Grandmothers | 344 |
| Kitty's Cat and Mine | 345 |
| Cradle and Grave | 347 |
| Explanatory Notes | 349 |
This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.
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