"A land which the Lord thy God careth for: the eyes of the Lord thy God are always upon it from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year."

Deuteronomy xi. 12.

HE heard the cry of the pilgrims, in sorrow and care and strife

Climbing the steeps of Progress. "Where shall we find us Life?

Shackled, for we are bondsmen, crippled, for each man's hand

Is ever against his neighbour's—why serve men such a land?"

He bade the Land make answer, that shares her children's pain,

A land of hills and valleys, drinking of heaven's rain,

Orchard, meadow and cornland, coppice and moor and tor,

A land care-free in her service, a land God careth for.

She woke for them at spring-time, they heard her tale unfold

From noon of throbbing summer to eve of autumn's gold,

Till in the sleep of winter, her spirit breathed the Word,

"His eyes are always upon us—how serve we such a Lord?"

Turned each to each in question, as West might turn to East,

Silent they read the answer, from greatest unto least,

In eyes abashed but daring to claim the kinship proved

By that which shone reflected from the land the Lord God loved.

And peace was theirs and laughter, for sorrow and care and strife,

Like grave cloths lay discarded, spurned by a risen Life,

Bondsmen set free for Service, as by the Master's hand,

Daughters and sons of the Father, who cares for the Motherland.

["The St. Martin's Review."