HOW POLLY SPOKE IN MEETING.
By Lindell Brooks
Once in a quiet school-room hung
A parrot with a noisy tongue;
Yet who, as any one may see,
Was bright as any Poll could be;
And that was just the matter. A Quaker damsel kept the school,
With patient, firm, yet gentle rule;
And saucy Poll, one scarce knew how,
Would mimic oft her “thee” and “thou,”
With endless, constant chatter. Oft, too, would hear her mistress say,
When scholars spoke in drawling way,
With stammer, stop, and stutter,
Or half-learned tasks too low began,
“Thee must speak louder, thee knows thee can!
Not mutter! mutter! mutter!” The country folks, about this time,
For special purpose did combine
To gather in the houses there,
For exhortation, praise, and prayer,
And higher inspiration; And in their own peculiar way,
The Quakers gathered day by day,
The Spirit’s influence to meet
By inward meditation sweet,
And silent contemplation. So as in order they had met
Within each house, a day was set
For kindly social greeting,
And conference in friendly mode,
Next at the teacher’s neat abode—
A large and general meeting. The school-room’s large and airy space
Was deemed a fit and proper place
For Friends to meet; and, school-hours past,
To perfect order grew at last,
All books and slates discarding. Then, having gathered one by one,
And being sure the last had come,
All sat in silence for a while,
Until with gentle, pleasant smile,
The audience regarding, An aged Friend arose to speak,
In voice scarce audible and weak,
Commenced her thoughts to utter;
When through the room the shrill words ran,
“Thee must speak louder, thee knows thee can!
Not mutter! mutter! mutter!” She stopped and mildly gazed around,
Wondering from whence could come such sound,
Or who in such harsh tones should dare
To interrupt her then and there;
Then, silencing vexation, With stammering speech essayed once more
To speak as she had done before;
In calm, set phrase again begun,—
But Poll, delighted with the fun,
And bent on a sensation, Screamed louder yet, again! again!!
Till who the culprit was most plain
Marked out by fuss and flutter,
As through the room the echoes ran,
“Must speak louder—knows thee can!
Not mutter! mutter! mutter!” In vain the audience strove to keep
Their faces long, demure, and meek;
In vain—all gravity was o’er,
For Poll kept screaming more and more,
“Mutter! mutter! mutter!”
As through the cage she wildly ran,
“Must speak louder!—knows thee can!
Not mutter! mutter! mutter!” So meeting broken up at last,
The smiling Friends, dispersing fast,
With warm hand-shakings were content
To part in harmless merriment;
And part, too, for the season:
Though through the town the tale was heard,
How they were silenced by a bird
With neither rhyme nor reason. And yet, methinks, from this strange speech
A good, sound moral one might teach,
If we’ve the sense to learn it.
The inward voice cries out most plain,
And shall it call to us in vain?
Nay, friend, if thou discern it, When all around thou see’st the wrong,
Speak, timid soul, speak stout and strong;
Don’t stammer, stop, and stutter;
Speak for the right, speak out my man,
“Thee must speak louder, thee knows thee can!
Not mutter! mutter! mutter!”
—Lindell Brooks.