THE BRIDGE BUILDER An old man going a lone highway Came at the evening, cold and gray, To a chasm vast and wide and steep, With waters rolling cold and deep. The old man crossed in twilight dim, The sullen stream had no fears for him; But he turned when safe on the other side, And built a bridge to span the tide. "Old man " said a fellow pilgrim near, You are wasting your strength with building here. Your journey will end with the ending day, You never again will pass- this way. You've crossed the chasm, deep and wide, "Why build you this bridge at eventide?" The builder lifted his old gray head. "Good friend, in the path I have come," he said. "There followeth after me today A youth whose feet must pass this way. The chasm that was as nought to me To that fair-haired youth may a pitfall be; He, too, must cross in the twilight dim- Good friend, I am building this bridge for him." - W.A. Dromgoole