This page needs to be proofread.
BALAUSTION'S ADVENTURE.
55
Who makes a pother to escape the bestAnd gain the worst you wiser Powers allot!"No, not one word of this: nor did his wifeDespite the sobbing, and the silence soonTo follow, judge so much was in his thought—Fancy that, should the Moirai acquiesce,He would relinquish life nor let her die.The man was like some merchant who, in storm,Throws the freight over to redeem the ship:No question, saving both were better still.As it was,—why, he sorrowed, which sufficed.So, all she seemed to notice in his speechWas what concerned her children. Children, too,Bear the grief and accept the sacrifice.Rightly rules nature: does the blossomed boughO' the grape-vine, or the dry grape's self, bleed wine?
So, bending to her children all her love,
