AT THE SIGN OF THE SPHINX

At the
Sign of the SPHINX

BY CAROLYN WELLS

“Heyday a Riddle! Neither good nor bad!”
King Richard III. iv. 4.

SECOND SERIES

NEW YORK
DUFFIELD & COMPANY
1906

	PAGE
AT THE SIGN OF THE SPHINX	[1]
ANSWERS	[126]

At the Sign of the Sphinx
Second Series

[Clicking on the number of the riddle will link to the answer.
(note of etext transcriber.)]

[1]

THE time has come. The waiting populace
Breathlessly watch him as he slowly mounts
The scaffold. Though his timid, trembling steps
Betoken fear, with calm and steady gaze
He sees my whole above his head. So bright!
So glittering! On that his eyes are fixed.
Garbed all in white, a rope about his waist,
My first upon his feet; silent, although
He suffers agonies untold. But hark!
He calls for drink. By some kind hand is passed
To him a brimming tumbler, and within
He sees my last and he is glad. He drinks,
Then once again turns to my whole. Brave man!
He fears not death, but murmurs to himself:
“This only I desire, that when I die
Men say I did my work and did it well.”

[2]

THE scene was merry, bright and gay
As I came to my first one day.
Beside my last I saw a lass
Dispense refreshment in a glass.
She was my first. “My last,” said I,
“I ’ll take a drink, for I am dry.”
Smiling, as she the goblet passed,
She said, “Here you my first my last.”
“My whole,” said I, “ere I depart,
I ’ll say that there is in my heart
(Just here the word must be reversed—)
A wish for your my last my first.”

[3]

MY first is now before us, my second is here too;
My whole is now here also,—and yet that ’s not quite true.
My first is,—no, what is it? That is for you to say;
And where ’s my second, tell me, yes, tell me that, I pray,
And I will tell you truly, that though you look around,
You cannot see my whole because it ’s nowhere to be found.

[4]

THE dusky shadows deepened and the night was drawing on,
A weary maiden watched my dying first, so nearly gone;
She mused awhile in silence, then to herself she spake,
“Ah, me, but when to-morrow dawns I know my first will break.”

The youth rode on. Like Scott’s brave knight he stayed not for my last;
He lingered not, nor faltered, but pressed onward hard and fast.
Alas! he took the downward course with many dangers rife;
But just in time he used my last and so he saved his life.

My whole, by artists painted and by poets often sung,
Thou hast across the Orient thy royal banners flung.
Thy wonders and thy glories we travel miles to see,
And the benighted wanderer oft sighs in vain for thee.

[5]

MY first, thou ’rt beautiful. Thy noble brow,
Thy curving mouth, and straight and classic nose,
All, all are dear to me. And though thou hast
But scanty raiment, though both arms are gone,
And though some toes are missing, even thus,
To those who know thee and who love thee well,
Thou art a thing of beauty and a joy.

An ancient poet, famous for his lyre,
With death was threatened by some wicked rogues.
Courageously escaping from their clutch,
He rode triumphantly upon my whole,
Swiftly propelled and balanced by my last.

[6]

MY first in childhood is unknown,
To us ’tis by experience shown;
It has a prominent position
Wherever there ’s an Exhibition.

My last, though old and like to die,
Perhaps possessing but one eye;
Are of small value, people say,
And pass them carelessly each day.
D stands for them, and I have found
Them often in the common pound.

My whole, men struggle to control,
And with my last they meet my whole.

[7]

MY first, although of use to men
Is scarcely worth a stiver;
But when a twin, it cannot then
Be managed by a driver.

My first ’s my second and my third,
A thread is wound around it;
I lost it once, and on my word,
’T was by my whole I found it.

[8]

MY first is a letter in juxtaposition;
My second ’s a letter in Syro-Phœnician;
My third is a letter in fanfaronade;
My fourth is a letter in rhodomontade;
My fifth is a letter in comicalness;
My whole combines gain and desirableness.

[9]

MY first was a hapless queen
Who died one day in Spring;
My first might stand before an Earl
But never before a King.

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;
And men for thee will fortunes gladly spend,
And yet by man thou ’rt bound and boxed and penned.
He stamps upon thee, puts thee on the rack,
And markest thee with stripes across thy back.

My second, goodly joys thou canst convey,
Gladly we take thy round from day to day;
Made of coarse clay, and often underbred,
Dear to the heir, yet buried with the dead.

My whole, what honored titles thou hast borne,
Designed for use, thou also dost adorn;
Allowed to roam, yet kept within the bound,
By thine assistance oft the lost is found.

[12]

WHEN out from the clouds the sun had burst,
My first of the people went to my first.

My second and third may be covered with sod,
And one in each town is given to God.

My whole is a dire and terrible deed
Of which in History we may read.

[13]

’T WAS not my whole,—and yet the King was there.
A fate hung in the balance. Suddenly
My second fell! A burning flush of shame
Showed on the man’s pale face. He looked aghast,
And cried, “I can’t retract, but I confess
My fault, and beg forgiveness of my first.”

[14]

WHEN at an inn I stopped to dine
Mine host brought out some rare old wine,
It was a bottle of his best,
My first and second it possessed,
In peace I ate and drank my fill,
Then asked the waiter for my bill,
My whole was charged! I looked quite blank,
My whole I neither ate nor drank.

[15]

I HAD two gardeners who to work were loath,
But straightway to my first I sent them both.
Such lazy fellows! Yet I must admit
A lazier one could be,—my second ’s it.
The ancients’ art my whole doth represent,
A perfect figure softly curved and bent.

[16]

HENRY the Eighth grew tired of life
With Catherine, his lawful wife.
But for divorce he ’d no decree;
Enraged, the King cried, “One, two, three!”

But soon my first gave up her soul,
Her body was no more my whole.

[17]

A SAD, mad maiden, with a fair, sweet face
Offered my first, and called it herb of grace.

My last is made of common clay, but then
He ’s liked extremely by his fellow-men.

When I would seek instruction for my soul,
I take my prayer-book down and read my whole.

[18]

ONE gained and kept the foremost place,
And by my first he won the race.

My second is exceeding black
And often follows after Jack.

In old mythology we read
My whole was served by Ganymede.

[19]

AN old philosopher was my last,
And his wife was my first in the distant past.

Select two sticks that are smooth and straight,
Lay them with care and precision great,
One north and south, one east and west,
They are my whole, it must be confessed.

[20]

TO the grandest of monarchs that ever was seen
My first was presented by Sheba’s fair queen.

Far, far away back in the ages long past,
According to science, the earth was my last.

My whole, on a rock, is reputed to be
A danger encountered by sailors at sea.

[21]

A WISE old proverb advises all
To catch my last if my first should fall.
A poet, who with genius glowed,
Wrote to my whole a famous ode.

[22]

MY last are celebrated, noted, learned:
Some will not come for years, and some are gone—
Ah, never to return. And only one
We may with truthfulness assert, exists.
And yet my first can buy them, eat them too,
And set them if he choose; and upon one
Of them he may perhaps send forth my whole;
Or on it may perhaps inscribe my whole;
Or on my whole he may inscribe my last.

[23]

WHETHER in winter’s cold or summer’s heat
My lady trails my first along the street.

My second figures in a certain nine;
One of a celebrated Roman line.

Scientists have a theory that my third
Makes music,—but it never has been heard.

A couple of my whole go to a ball;
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.
I hold it in my hand,—yet though polite,
’T is of no use to me while in my sight.
But still ’tis felt, and in my secret soul
Upon reflection, I commend my whole.
Now nothing can describe my second better
Than the last part of a well-written letter.
My whole cannot escape his fate so sad,
Tradition tells us all his race goes mad.

[27]

MY first ’s a sum of money that I have never seen
Though I have earned it often and spent it too, I ween.

When money is my second ’t is often hard to get;
My second is a pretty sight, although it ’s rather wet.

My whole ’s a sad misfortune caused by a summer rain;
It makes much trouble in my first, and goes against the grain.

[28]

TO Sodom and Gomorrah on the plain
Was sent a fiery storm of brimstone rain;

When o’er the towns the fearful torrent burst,
One was destroyed, the other was my first.

My last we waste and spend, but cannot save;
And on it we ’ll be carried to our grave.

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.

[30]

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.

Now all that I have said
Is useless in the telling,
Unless you take the word
According to its spelling.

But if you would prefer
A varied information,
We ’ll now divide it up
By its pronunciation.

And then we see my first,
Scaly and sticky-jointed
Upon a rounded base,
And very neatly jointed.

My second then becomes
A horned beast, and hairy;
Or else a lovely lace,
Fit to bedeck a fairy.

When merry Yuletide comes,
And Christmas joys returning,
In the old hall we ’ll sit,
And watch my total burning.

[31]

THERE was a bachelor in days of old,
Who wished to get himself a wife, we ’re told.

And so desirous of a wife was he,
He started off to London, one, two, three.

He must have found one to delight his soul,
Because soon after they returned my whole.

[32]

MY first, before the fray had ceased,
Offered my whole for my last beast;
Or Shakespeare tells us so at least.

[33]

MY first is given and received, a blessing and a bane;
You may buy it at the station, get it gratis on the train;
You may find it in a puppet-booth or in a banquet-hall,
And I think perhaps the Roman is the noblest of them all.

’Twas in my second, long ago, brave men put out to sea;
And at a garden-fête I saw my second flowing free;
And I leaned against my second of strong and solid oak,
But as I grasped my second, alas, it dropped and broke.

My whole at Christmas seasons with holly we entwine;
Upon the old Whig taverns ’t was painted as a sign;
But in its depths lurk dangers, from its floating cakes of ice
To its balmy breath of sugar-cane, its tropic fruits and spice.

[34]

ONCE I passed through my whole. ’T was beautiful;
’T was like a fairy-land, so gay, so glad,
So free from care and sorrow. For a time
I staid. Yet eagerly desired the day
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;
His wooden effigy is sold for youth of tender age.
My second ’s very wicked, and Holy Writ declares
Of those who made my second and the punishing she bears.
My whole hangs from the branching trees,
Swayed lightly by a passing breeze.

[37]

IN gorgeous splendor, once upon a time
My second reigned in Afric’s sunny clime;
A slave provoked his monarch’s royal ire,
And stood before him under sentence dire.
“My first, my last,” he stammered, “pity me!
Must I obey thy horrible decree?
Oh, thou who over millions hast control—”
One word the magnate uttered, ’t was my whole.

[38]

GREAT Shakespeare was my first; yet when he died
He left my first. By loving hands his clay
Was laid my second in the tomb. And now
His tombstone to the traveler seems to speak,
And say, “My second! here ’s my first!”
The fair Ophelia, gentle, hapless soul,
Sank to a watery grave beneath my whole.

[39]

MY first was a scholarly Scotchman of note,
Discourses and essays he learnedly wrote,
My second was found in the post, such a scrawl!
That letter never was opened at all.
My third ’s made of flesh and sinew and bone,
My first, I suppose had two of his own;
My whole is a man delightful to folks
Who enjoy reading jocular jingles and jokes.

[40]

AT my first was my friend.
We went for my last;
I ’d a half-hour to spend,
At my first was my friend;
As we went round the bend
O’er my total we passed.
At my first was my friend,
We went for my last.

[41]

AH, distinctly I remember
’T was my first and not December,
And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor,

Eagerly I wished the morrow,
Vainly I had sought to borrow
In my last, surcease of sorrow, sorrow for the lost Lenore.

For my whole so rare and radiant,
Whom the angels name Lenore—
Nameless here forevermore.

[42]

SAFE from the cold December storm,
I sat by my whole so bright and warm,
When the cry of my first I plainly heard.
My last sprang up without a word;
And panic-stricken, in sudden fright,
We rushed out into the winter night.

[43]

MEN often strive my first to gain
By strength or skill, by speed or worth;
It causes deepest woe and pain,
It causes also joy and mirth.

I watched a tennis-player serve,
And through the air the ball whizzed fast,
But took an unexpected curve;
The umpire said it was my last.

With thoughtful eyes and puzzled brow,
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;
A brave but sturdy fighter, he could fall but could not yield.
But a comrade stood beside him while his life-blood trickled fast,
And bent, with pitying glances, to wrap him in my last,
Seeking his country’s glory, e’en in the cannon’s mouth.
Though in the midst of bloodshed, my first stood for the South.
The dying soldier faltered as he took his comrade’s hand,
Saying, “Make my whole, my brother, it is my last command.”

[46]

HOPING my first kind Heaven will send her,
The suppliant prays on bended knee.
Like Little Billee, “young and tender,”
We all desire my last shall be.
So that she might become my whole
God breathed in Eve a living soul.

[47]

DOROTHY Dauber sat serene,
Painting my total on a screen,
When a little mouse went scampering o’er
Dorothy Dauber’s yellow floor.
Dorothy, with a piercing cry,
Clambered up on a table high;
My first went madly rushing past
Waving vigorously my last.
Such a commotion in the house,
And all on account of a little mouse.

[48]

My first, of high degree,
Thousands succumb to thee—
In Oriental countries thou art found;
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.
But over his pupils he had no control;
They said he was crusty and cross and my whole.
And the rascals declared it would serve him just right
To play him a practical joke some fine night.
So down to the river they went, and they took
My first from my last of the dark, muddy brook.
Then they eagerly hurried, yet still as a mouse,
Till they came to the little old schoolmaster’s house.
They smuggled my first in my last with great glee,
And chuckled to think how irate he would be.

[50]

LEAVING my whole with grief and pain
Columbus sailed across the main.
He came at last to western lands
And saw the Red Men’s savage bands.
They were my last, they were my first,
Columbus’ fears were then dispersed.

[51]

FROM history’s truthful page,
We all of us may know
My first was strongly built
Thousands of years ago.
The books of ancient lore
We read again and see
That long before my first
My whole was said to be.

And people who lived then,
Had surely never heard
Of the 20th century
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.

[53]

THE breaking waves dashed high,
The vessel rose and fell;
My first was drenched from end to end
With every heavy swell.

The vivid lightning flashed,
The awful thunder boomed.
“Unless my last is sent to us,”
The captain said, “we ’re doomed.”

The tempest cleared away
Before the morning light.
“Within my whole,” the captain said,
“I ’ve not seen such a night.”

[54]

MY first, with the meek brown eyes,
In whose orbs a shadow lies,
Standing with reluctant feet
Where the brook and river meet,
If where wild-flowers blossom rank,
You my last upon the bank,
Down the hillside you may roll
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.
The plot was devised in a moment of rage,
By my last, who committed my first ’gainst a sage.
A dry way through the sea for the hosts was revealed;
But this availed naught, for their dark doom was sealed;
The furious billows no power could control,
And ’neath the dark waters they soon were my whole.

[57]

CLAD in his ermine and his robes of state,
The haughty king in pomp and splendor sate.
And ’mong the crowds which thronged the regal chair,
My first approached, and looked upon him there,
She, too, with white-furred robe and gentle mien,
And noble air and countenance serene.
“What does she here?” grumbled a doughty knight.
The king replied, “The world hath said she might.”

I walked across a sunny field one day,
And saw an old man working by the way.
“How is my last, old man?” I gaily said.
“My last?” said he, and bent his grizzled head.
“How is my last?” I said it o’er again.
“My last?” he said (he seemed perplexed), and then—
“Is my last good?” I asked of him once more.
“Fine, sir,” he said; “better than e’er before.”

Across the ocean’s wave my total lies;
And, as Lord Tennyson in verse implies,
Is dull and undesirable; but still,
I ’d gladly travel there, had I my will.

[58]

MY first, a graceful shape, a lady fair,
Walking the earth, suspended in the air;
Shrill-voiced and brazen-tongued, low-toned and sweet,
Shining and dull, discordant and discreet.

The jolly fisherman, his day’s work o’er,
Walks with his string of fish along the shore;
Knowing they ’ll make a bountiful repast,
He proudly takes them homeward to my last.

Once in my whole a lovely maiden swung,
And ever since we ’ve heard her praises sung.

[59]

A WELL known ballad has rehearsed
The placid waters of my first.
The hero bold, his noble friend,
The heroine’s sad, untimely end,
Why by a traitor was immersed
Beneath the waters of my first.
Another ballad I could name
Describes the doings of a dame;
Her home-life, and her walks abroad,
And her companions. We are awed
At all the tales her memories tell,
And what strange happenings befell.
’T is said that she went to my last.
Now this we know: that if she passed
Into my last, and did n’t hand
My last, according to demand,
’T was not my last, and we may say
She was a deadhead in her day.
My whole ’s desired by every one
From day to day, from sun to sun.
For it we pray, we work, we earn;
Look out for it at every turn.
And when at last we ’ve had our day,
My last my first we ’ll have to say.

[60]

I MET my whole in a far-distant land,
Shiftless and wild he roamed upon the sand.
“Are you my last?” with sudden fear I said.
He only said my first, and wagged his head.
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; his name ’s my last.
And yet he is my first,
Because of all the scamps I know,
He really is the worst.

I saw him tumble down to-day
And on the pavement roll;
I saw him fight another boy,
I saw him get my whole.

His old cap was my whole, I think;
A tattered coat he had,
And yet, withal, he seemed to be
A very merry lad.

[63]

MY first, untidy though thou art,
A noted writer, and a scribe,
This trait of thine hath won my heart:
Thy kindness to the feathered tribe.

My second dwells among the hills,
Or lives on India’s coral strand;
And many hearts with fear it thrills
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! My first has stood
For half a hundred years, and still is good
For half a hundred more. My last, though thin,
Though old and bent, yet lithe and strong, has been
Strung up for killing U. S. Army men,
Perhaps deprived them of my whole; and when
My whole is lacking, he would be a goose
Who said most stovepipes are of any use.

[66]

WHEN hunting my last in the forest I heard
In my first, as I passed, the song of a bird;
If you seek in my whole you ’ll discover the word.

[67]

MY second once again is running clear,
The young green of my whole begins to appear,
All things my first to show that spring is here.

[68]

My whole was a queen
Of disconsolate mien
Who built a large pile in the past;
In sorrow immersed,
She vowed to my first,
And that ’s what she vowed to my last.

[69]

IF my last could be placed upon my first,
The world would be the better;
My whole must be carefully rehearsed
If you ’d write a perfect letter.

My last has been laid upon my last;
Bad men in my first are living;
My whole ’s a doctor who may be classed
Among the pleasure-giving.

[70]

MY first is the well known historical home
Of a noted historical lady;
My first in strange countries is oft known to roam,
Or along a green path cool and shady.

My first is my lady’s great pride and delight,
Yet they say the fair sex cannot do it;
My first stamps the home, though ’t is oft out of sight;
When I was a child I went through it.

My last is a very queer book, so men say,
So scarce that we rarely can find it;
A most welcome caller, a place far away,
’T is twisted, yet still we can wind it.

My whole, a great healer, thy power I allow,
Though others thy help may be scorning;
For ere I go worldward, to thee I must bow,
And beseech thine assistance each morning.

My whole is a goddess of fabulous fame.
Or a long line of articles, somewhat the same.

At the Sign of the Sphinx. Second series

At theSign of the SPHINX

CONTENTS

At the Sign of the SphinxSecond Series

At the
Sign of the SPHINX

At the Sign of the Sphinx
Second Series