| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900. |
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| 339. A Proem |
| | | By Samuel Ward |
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| WHEN in my walks I meet some ruddy lad— | |
| Or swarthy man—with tray-beladen head, | |
| Whose smile entreats me, or his visage sad, | |
| To buy the images he moulds for bread, | |
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| I think that,—though his poor Greek Slave in chains, | 5 |
| His Venus and her Boy with plaster dart, | |
| Be, like the Organ-Grinder’s quavering strains, | |
| But farthings in the currency of art,— | |
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| Such coins a kingly effigy still wear, | |
| Let metals base or precious in them mix: | 10 |
| The painted vellum hallows not the Prayer, | |
| Nor ivory nor gold the Crucifix. | |
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