To My Cousin – Montgomery

Mrs. Alice Dyer Otis

The book you send to me,
You must see,
Tells me in your thinking,
Thoughts of me
Occupy your time in linking
Things you know.

And my ways and seeming nature
You can feature,
Asking of yourself, and seeking,
How is nature
To him furnished so in thinking,
Thus or so.

For our ways have constant seeming,
And, with dreaming,
May be like the novel’s heroes
In their seeming, —
Strong, and honest, and not Neros,
High or low.

Now I’ve told you, Alice, truly,
And you surely
Will not differ from my thought;
For you truly
“The Old Man” or “Artist” me have sought: —
Yes or no?

And I fain would say to you, —
And ’tis true
That the girl a heroine is shown;
And, like you,
On her loves are all affection thrown,
Great or small.

May we always knowing each
Try to teach,
All that’s good and brave a likeness in us finds;
And with each,
Quaint, but truly, thus express our minds,
Friend or foe.

Curious minds wonder what book (novel?) cousin Alice Otis may
have sent J. H. Montgomery without first seeing it or flipping
Through pages — and causing him to write this lovely poem
in “The Spirit’s Work” published 1914.