(1913年3月4日)噢，缪斯，我自觉地恳求你的帮助;我渴望你的帮助，请求你的帮助，好叫人们喊:“一首小小的颂歌!一个桃子!”啊，缪斯，请赐予我走完这段路的力量吧!因为颂歌，我知道，是酒神颂，而且很长;崇高的感觉，庄严的主题和复杂的结构引导着这首歌。(这些都摘自韦伯斯特那本颇受尊敬的书。)不要让复杂的结构遮蔽我清晰的线条，也不要让负担过重。对于雪莱、济慈、华兹华斯和那一群人，我把港湾让给了宏大而崇高的赞美。我的任务是追踪一个国家的成长，从华盛顿到威尔逊的每一次就职典礼都证明了这一点——在美国，这个著名的国家。 But stay! or ever that I start to sing, Or e'er I loose my fine poetic forces, I ought, I think, to do the decent thing, Ti Wit: give credit to my many sources: Barnes's "Brief History of the U.S.A.," Bryce, Ridpath, Scudder, Fiske, J.B. McMaster, A book of odes, a Webster, a Roget-- The bibliography of this poetaster. Flow, flow, my pen, as gently as sweet Afton ever flowed! An thou dost ill, shall this be a poor thing, but mine ode. G.W., initial prex, Right down in Wall Street, New York City, Took his first oath. Oh, multiplex The whimsies quaint, the comments witty One might evolve from that! I scorn To mock the spot where he was sworn. On next Inauguration Day He took the avouchment sempiternal Way down in Phil-a-delph-i-a, Where rises now the L.H. Journal. His farewell speech in '96 Said: "'Ware the Trusts and all their tricks!" John Adams fell on darksome days: March fourth was blustery and sleety; The French behaved in horrid ways Until John Jay drew up a treaty. Came the Eleventh Amendment, too, Providing that--but why tell you? T. Jefferson, one history showed, Held all display was vain and idle; Alone, unpanoplied he rode; Alone he hitched his horse's bridle. No ball that night, no carouse, But back to Conrad's boarding house. He tied that bridle to the fence The morning of inauguration; John Davis saw him do it; whence Arose his "simple" reputation. The White House, though, with Thomas J., Had chefs--and parties every day. THE MUSE INTERRUPTS THE ODIST If I were you I think I'd change my medium; I'm weary of your meter and your style. The sameness of it sickens me to tedium; I'll quit unless you switch it for a while. THE ODIST REPLIES I bow to thee, my Muse, most eloquent of pleaders; But why embarras me in front of all these readers? Madison's inauguration Was a lovely celebration. In a suit of wool domestic Rode he, stately and majestic, Making it be manifest Clothes American are best. This has thundered through the ages. (See our advertising pages.) Lightly I pass along, and so Come to the terms of James Monroe Who framed the doctrine far too well Known for the odist to retell. His period of friendly dealing Began The Era of Good Feeling. John Quincy Adams followed him in Eighteen Twenty-Four; Election was exciting--the details I shall ignore. But his inauguration as our country's President Was, take it from McMaster, some considerable event. It was a brilliant function, and I think I ought to add The Philadelphia "ledger" said a gorgeous time was had. Old Andrew Jackson's pair of terms were terribly exciting; That stern, intrepid warrior had little else than fighting. A time of strife and turbulence, of politics and flurry. But deadly dull for poem themes, so, Mawruss, I should worry! In Washington did Martin Van A stately custom then decree; Old Hickory, the vetran, Must ride with him, the people's man, For all the world to see. A pleasant custom, in a way, And yet I should have laughed To see the Sage of Oyster Bay On Tuesday ride with Taft. (Pardon me this Parenthetical halt: That sight you'll miss, But it isn't my fault.) William Henry Harrison came Riding a horse of alabaster, But the weather that day was a sin and a shame, Take it from me and John McMaster. Only a month--and Harrison died, And V.P. Tyler began preside. A far from popular prex was he, And the next one was Polk from Tennessee. There were two inaugural balls for him But the rest of his record is rather dim. Had I the pen of a Pope or a Thackeray, Had I the wisdom of Hegel or Kant, Then might I sing as I'd like to of Zachary, Then might I sing a Taylorian chant. Oh, for the lyrical art of a Tennyson! Oh, for the skill of Macaulay or Burke! None of these mine; so I give him my benison, Turning reluctantly back to my work. O Millard Fillmore! when a man refers To thee, what direful, aw