Quote#Speech
Alas for maiden, alas for Judge
Quote byJohn Greenleaf Whittier · 1807–1892
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Maud Muller (1856), Bret Harte wrote a famous parody of this famous poem, "Mrs. Judge Jenkins" in which the Judge marries Maud, and which he ends with the lines: Maud soon thought the Judge a bore, With all his learning and all his lore; And the Judge would have bartered Maud's fair face For more re.
English (original)
Alas for maiden, alas for Judge, For rich repiner and household drudge! God pity them both! and pity us all, Who vainly the dreams of youth recall; For of all sad words of tongue or pen, The saddest are these: "It might have been!"
— John Greenleaf Whittier
More from John Greenleaf Whittier
Press bravely onward! — not in vain Your generous trust in human kind; The good which bloodshed could not gain Your peaceful zeal shall find.
The windows of my soul I throw Wide open to the sun.
O, brother man! fold to thy heart thy brother; where pity dwells, the peace of God is there.
What is good looking, as Horace Smith remarks, but looking good? Be good, be womanly, be gentle,—generous in your sympathies, heedful of the well-being of all around you; and, my word for it, you will not lack kind words of admiration.
Shoot, if you must, this old gray head, But spare your country's flag," she said.
So fallen! so lost! the light withdrawn Which once he wore; The glory from his gray hairs gone For evermore!