| James and Mary Ford, eds. Every Day in the Year. 1902. | | | | October 12 | | The Wanderer | | By Eugene Field (1850–1895) |
| | | | The supposed song of Heléne Modjeska, born Oct. 12, 1844. |
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UPON a mountain height, far from the sea, | |
| I found a shell, | |
| And to my listening ear this lonely thing | |
| Ever a song of ocean seem’d to sing— | |
| Ever a tale of ocean seem’d to tell. | 5 |
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| How came the shell upon the mountain height? | |
| Ah, who can say | |
| Whether there dropped by some too careless hand— | |
| Whether there cast when oceans swept the land, | |
| Ere the Eternal had ordained the day? | 10 |
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| Strange, was it not? Far from its native deep, | |
| One song it sang; | |
| Sang of the awful mysteries of the tide, | |
| Sang of the restless sea, profound and wide— | |
| Ever with echoes of the ocean rang. | 15 |
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| And as the shell upon the mountain height | |
| Sang of the sea, | |
| So do I ever, leagues and leagues away— | |
| So do I ever, wandering where I may, | |
| Sing, O my home! sing, O my home! of thee! | 20 | | |
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