Von Eberkopf.
[Clinking glasses with him.]
How strengthening it is to hear
A principle thus acted out,
Freed from the night of theory,
Unshaken by the outward ferment!
Peer.
[Who has been drinking freely during the preceding
passages.]
We Northland men know how to carry
Our battle through! The key to the art
Of life's affairs is simply this:
To keep one's ear close shut against
The ingress of one dangerous viper.
Mr. Cotton.
What sort of viper, pray, dear friend?
Peer.
A little one that slyly wiles you
To tempt the irretrievable.
[Drinking again.
The essence of the art of daring,
The art of bravery in act,
Is this: To stand with choice-free foot
Amid the treacherous snares of life,—
To know for sure that other days
Remain beyond the day of battle,—
To know that ever in the rear
A bridge for your retreat stands open.
This theory has borne me on,
Has given my whole career its colour;
And this same theory I inherit,
A race-gift, from my childhood's home.
