TO THE COLN.

Flow on, clear, fresh trout stream, emblem of purity and perfect truth;
thou hast accomplished a mighty work, thou hast a mighty work to do. Who
can count the millions of tons of lime that thou hast borne down to the
sea in far-off Kent? Thou hast indeed "strength to remove mountains,"
for day by day the soil that thou hast taken from these limestone hills
is being piled up at the mouth of the great historic river, and some day
perchance it shall become rolling downs again. Fed by clear springs,
thou shalt gradually steal thy way along the Cotswold valleys, draining
foul marshes, irrigating the sweet meadows. Thou shalt turn the wheels
and grind many a hundred sacks of corn ere to-morrow's sun is set. And
then thou shalt change thy name. No longer silvery Coln, but mighty
Thames, shalt thou be called; and many a fair scene shall gladden thy
sight as thou slowly passest along towards thy goal.

Smiling meadows and Gloucestershire vales will soon give place to fair
Berkshire villages, and, further on, to those glorious spires and courts
of Oxford; and here shalt thou make many friends--friends who will
evermore think kindly of thee, ever associate thy placid waters with all
that they loved best and held dearest during their brief sojourning in
those old walls which tower above thy banks. A few short miles, and thou
shalt pass a quiet and sacred spot--sacred to me, and dear above all
other spots; for close to that little village church of Clifton Hampden,
and close to thee, we laid some years ago the mortal body of a noble
man. And when thou stealest gently by, and night mists rise from off thy
glassy face, be sure and drop a tear in silvery dew upon the moss-grown
stone I know so well. And then pass on to Eton, fairest spot on earth.
Mark well the playing-fields, the glorious trees, and Windsor towering
high. Here shalt thou be loved by many a generous heart, and youth and