Mendocino [pp. 27]

MENDOCINO
If you refuse, for her sake, this night I'll go
away forever."
Then the Honorable Jerry Ryley drew
himself up in senatorial grandeur.
"Fetch Kathleen to me, here!"
By this time the thing had got wind.
The dancing ceased, and in silence in which
you could have heard a pin drop, the schoolmaster -a fine manly fellow, strength in
every one of his Californian sinews, but
with face as pale as death led by the hand
the girl, pale and flushing, by turns. The
throng ranged on the sides of the barn,
leaving the middle vacant, every one intensely excited.
Sternly spoke the Honorable Jerry:
"Kathleen! As I have been to thee
father and mother both, since thy mother
died at thy birth, answer before God: Do
ye love this man?"
"I love him, father." Then frightened
at the publicity, at everything, she
turned to her lover, who took her in his
arms before them all, and comforted her.
It was the most touching thing I ever saw
in my life. The betrothal was a fact, and
licensed when the Honorable Jerry leaped
on the table: —
"Play, you divils, play up, can't yez?
Haste to the widdin' now! Oup! Dance,
what's the matter wid ye all, eh? Dance,
I say! Oup."
0, the jigging of the next few minutes,
and the shouting!
My lady I found in a corner, crying softly
for joy, and I — but of that some other
time. Suffice, that my lady and I ever kept
the memory green of Kathleen and the
Honorable Jerry Ryley.
MENDOCINO
WHERE the flying light and shadow fleck the ranges of the hills,
And the trout in silver gleamings flash among the rippling rills,
Where the deer come softly stepping, with a foot-fall all unheard,
And the squirrel's chatter mingles with the melody of bird,
Where the gray fog driving inland melts among the towering pines,
And the summer's glowing sunlight shimmers over purpling vines,
Where the voice of restless Ocean lingers in the echoing shell
And the winds among the redwoods with a changing cadence swell,
Where the sunrise gilds the mountains with the glory of the morn,
And the sunset's sobbed a requiem by the ranks of rustling corn,
Where poppies nod in springtime, and myriad lilies sway,
And Autumn's breath comes fragrant from hop fields far away,
Where the white-winged sails of ocean, nestling, linger by thy side
And the spray of the Pacific kisses thee, and calls thee bride,
Where the eagle spreads his pinions, and the panther hath his lair,
And falcons whistle shrilly from the heights of upper air,
There, 0 regal Mendocino! where thy storm-swept mountains stand,
Lie thy forests, vales, and cafions; fairest thou in northern land,
And as flows thy Russian river in the flood-time to the sea,
So, 0 Mother Mendocino! turn thy children's hearts to thee.
Llit McNab.
27