Carolyn Wells

Name: At the Sign of the Sphinx. Second series
Author: Carolyn Wells

At the Sign of the Sphinx. Second series

Summary

“At the Sign of the Sphinx. Second series”, is a work by Carolyn Wells. It explores elements such as whole, second and glory.

Quotes from At the Sign of the Sphinx. Second series (Carolyn Wells)

Carolyn Wells, At the Sign of the Sphinx. Second series

“ My second is Erin’s luck,
The end of all success;
My third is a Scandinavian god
Who succoured those in distress.
Scientists disagree
About the immortal soul;
But Evolution seems to prove
We ’re descended from my whole.
10
MY first was into prison cast,
An angel made my first my last.
My first was hanged; with silent tread
The mourners came to view the dead.
Fair Enid, so the legends say,
Upon my total rode away.
11
MY powerful first, thou standest in thy stall,
Many a man is held beneath thy thrall ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Carolyn Wells, At the Sign of the Sphinx. Second series

“ When I might leave its simple joys. Ah me,
If but I might return to them again!
My first is always in my whole. Sometimes
My first is in my last. When, long ago,
Red Ridinghood on kindly errand bent,
Walked to her grandam’s cot across the wood,
My last was on my first.
35
A SPIRIT rising in the air, continued still to fight;
It was my first, who, when alive, put savage hordes to flight.
And for my total, years had filled the Romans with my last,
And at his grim and ghastly blade the conquerors looked aghast.
36
MY first a well known character on ancient history’s page ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Carolyn Wells, At the Sign of the Sphinx. Second series

“ With human power combined;
We never see it now, of course,
We ’ve left it far behind.
88
MY first, the Scriptures say, in Eden grew.
Pronounce its letters—there ’s my whole for you!
My last name to myself I can’t apply;
My whole, tradition says, could never lie.
89
MY last was very tall and very slim
So all his people made a mock of him;
Their jeerings worried him and grieved his soul;
And when a clown with jest and laughter passed,
And said, “Aha! you are my first, my last!”
He said, “Don’t speak to me; I am my whole.”
90
I ’d oft be thankful, could I be my whole ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Carolyn Wells, At the Sign of the Sphinx. Second series

“ And on my whole is room enough for all.
24
MY first is made of clay
And holds a growing palm;
My second brings a day
When all the air seems balm;
My whole is quite a clever feat
Performed by many a young athlete.
25
MY first ’s possessed by men and dogs and goats,
By houses, churches, books and hats and coats.
My second was a maiden young and fair,
Entrusted to a guardian’s watchful care.
He who ’s my whole cannot achieve great fame;
Read my whole backward and it spells the same.
26
MY first, though scrutinized with close inspections
Is found above all human imperfections. ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Carolyn Wells, At the Sign of the Sphinx. Second series

“ And play havoc with my whole.
55
MY first, men call thee wicked, and perhaps they may be right,
Yet I contend thou shouldst be judged according to thy light.
My last, thou art a messenger received with joy or dread,—
Frequently driven, very deaf, found in an humble shed.
My whole, of upright bearing, and found in many lands,
In order to be seen of men, upon street-corners stands.
56
THE vast hosts of Egypt, at Pharaoh’s decree,
All blazing in armor marched down to the sea. ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Carolyn Wells, At the Sign of the Sphinx. Second series

“ When marching in a mighty band.
Sailing upon the summer seas,
I watch the yachts and pleasure boats
Spurred on by the propelling breeze—
How gracefully my total floats!
64
MY first is good when it ’s alone;
The best ones are our mothers’;
And though we have it of our own,
We ’re apt to take another’s.
In many devious paths we stray
When by my first we ’re beckoned;
And by my first we ’re dragged away,
Or else we are my second.
Sometimes my second may be shot,
Which brings much grief and dole;
But when my second’s very hot
It cannot be my whole.
65
FIRST sign of Liberty! ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Carolyn Wells, At the Sign of the Sphinx. Second series

“ Beneath thy mighty power
Thy fainting victims cower,
Thy greatness brings them prostrate to the ground.
Unhonored and unsung,
My second was, when young,
Beheaded by a tyrant’s stern decree;
Her home and friends she left,
Her children were bereft,
Yet martyred in a worthy cause was she.
In far Afghanistan,
In China and Japan,
On Greenland’s ice and India’s coral strands;
My whole in mighty hordes,
So history records,
Worship their idols in barbaric bands.
49
IN a little old school-house that stood on a hill
A little old schoolmaster taught with a will. ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Carolyn Wells, At the Sign of the Sphinx. Second series

“ MEN travel in my first,
Although perhaps it ’s risky;
My first goes round on wheels,
Though not exactly frisky.
Some may detest charades,
And puzzles may distress them,
But still they must admit
It takes my last to guess them. ”

[↩︎]

Source: Gutenberg

Carolyn Wells, At the Sign of the Sphinx. Second series

“ My whole the rich and poor alike may claim,
But soon it will possess another name.
29
TO win my first men struggle all their lives,—
Yet willingly present it to their wives.
The wise man no great fortune has amassed,
But lives his life contented with my last.
An infant is my whole at early age;
And Lot’s wife was my whole on Scripture’s page. ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Carolyn Wells, At the Sign of the Sphinx. Second series

“ Yet but reverse the letters of my whole,
A friend we see, a noble loving soul.
61
THE banners were waving, gems glittered and shone,
When my first and my second ascended the throne,
And peacefully reigned with a merciful sway
In glory and splendor. But one summer day
A message was brought to the court and the state
That the king was not coming, the session must wait.
A great consternation o’er all faces spread;
They whispered in sorrow, “Alack for his head!”
And the courtiers echoed, “Alas for his poll!
Oh, who can now help him, his head is my whole!”
62
I KNOW a boy ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Carolyn Wells, At the Sign of the Sphinx. Second series

“ It is my whole you ’re reading now.
44
BENEATH the Roman Eagle’s glory,
Great Cæsar, famed in song and story,
Triumphant banners floating o’er him,
Carried my Roman first before him.
In springtime days of sunny weather,
When lads and lassies dance together,
Around the May-pole gaily flying,
They are my last, there ’s no denying.
A gallant knight and lovely lady
Were sauntering down a pathway shady;
He offered her, with words beguiling,
My whole, which she accepted, smiling.
45
A SOLDIER of the rebels lay dying in the field ”

[↩︎]

Source: Gutenberg

Carolyn Wells, At the Sign of the Sphinx. Second series

“ My second and my third.
52
MY grandsire in the Mayflower came across the raging waters,
And so I sought to join the Revolutionary Daughters.
I studied up my pedigree, and when my search was ended,
I learned to my chagrin that from my first I had descended.
The cashier left his books in wild confusion and disorder,
And started to my last across the far Canadian border.
My whole is used by artisans of every clime and nation,
The blacksmith’s need, the mason’s pride, the school-girl’s detestation. ”

[↩︎]

Source: Gutenberg

Carolyn Wells, At the Sign of the Sphinx. Second series

“ My second, with a vacant stare,
Jaunty red cap and curling hair,
Once at a gay and festive scene,
Captured a bright and smiling queen.
My whole is very often used
To hit a beast that ’s much abused.
115
MY dogs I love, my horses I adore ”

Carolyn Wells

Summary

Quotes from At the Sign of the Sphinx. Second series (Carolyn Wells)

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