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 LI BRARY OF CONGR ESS, I 
 
 i*li\lTEI) ,STATK8 OF AMIT.ICA.f 
 
 
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 Hiiaiiii^ ; 
 
 OTI^EI^ FOEIS^S 
 
 By Lucern ElliJtt. 
 
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 JACKSONVILLE, ILL. : 
 
 lENTIXKL BOOK ASV JOr. PRINTlXtJ OVVli 
 
 1867. 
 
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 $«^ 
 
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 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the 
 year 1868, bvJ, R. Bailey, in the clerk's Office 
 of the District Court of the United States for the 
 Southern District of Illinois. 
 
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 tu^liiiqj 
 
 A summer day had journeyed to its close; 
 The air Avas staj^uant with its .slumbrous fire, 
 As earth receded from old Phcrbus' car: 
 A diugy blush stole o'er her burning cheek: 
 NV^ith un§ecn hands the noiseless gloaming spread 
 The swift increasing darkness : and the night, 
 Where silvery sandaled walked the fair roundjiioon, 
 spreading lier robes of softest radiance down, 
 Crowned the high arches of the unmeasured sky. 
 With diadem of stars that glittered o'er all kings. 
 Since Time came forth Eternity's first bovn. 
 
 Fair Lyons stood where flows the silvery Rhone, 
 Mingling its waters with the bright Sahone. 
 The busy hands had left the heated rooms, 
 Where lengthening webs crept from the noisy looms.: 
 And fairer grew to each the hope, that comes 
 New-born each day, to bless industry's sons,— 
 Of rest and quiet where the toiler rears 
 The castles that shall crown his future years. 
 
 Within a low-roofed cottage blushing stood. 
 With witching grace of early womanhood, 
 A fair young girl with lustrous eye half veiled 
 By silken lash that swept a cheek now paled, 
 NoAV reddened with the change of hope and fear 
 Growing alternate victor, as her listening ear 
 Drank in the story she had often heard : 
 

 -^ 
 
 Oflieroisivi and mai-tyrdom. Her pulses stirrerl 
 With quicker flow, when in her lover's palm 
 Her white hand lay, and with an ( utward cala^ 
 But sinking heart, she heard him paint again 
 The land of llowers beyond the raging main. 
 
 ' 'See, ' ' said Alphonse, ' 'the cruel curse that bear* 
 Oppression's iiompous standar<l. He who wear,s 
 The crown of France is ruled through all his deeds, 
 By a vain woman, who right nor justice heeds. 
 Our public wealth and private safety, stand 
 Uncertain in her grasp. Designing hands 
 Grow heavier with their weight of blood each day. 
 Nor years nor time can wash the stain awaj"^. 
 The unbroken forest hears the Huguenot's cry, 
 As toward the untrodden hills they thronging fly: 
 Ephemeral were the hoj^es that quickly grew 
 Upon the grave where slumbered Kichelieu. 
 Our trusting sires 'neath Mazarin's troublous bon(i 
 Betrayed by treacherous courtiers in the Fronde, 
 Bequeathed their children legacies of crime, 
 The seeming portion of our sunny clime. 
 
 But in that land beyond the quaking sea, 
 There lifts no iron hand of tyranny; 
 There argent rivers toss each crested wave, 
 Whose swift caies.ses golden ingots lave. 
 There Naiad's feet are pressing silvery beds. 
 And priceless gems adorn their fairy heads; 
 Tangles of gorgeous blooms are spreading there, 
 A heavy sweetness on the odorous air. 
 There Daphne waves, where feet have never trod, 
 The alluring rankness of her crowning rod; 
 The skies are fair above the green capped hill«. 
 
 4. -^ 
 
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5. # 
 
 W 
 
 ' And Drjades sport beside the gushing rills; 
 
 i Soft breezes slumber amid the thrifty vine, 
 
 I Whose leafy cradle rocks the i)ur[)le wine; 
 
 ; And gems are hidden, where falls no human tread, 
 
 I Whoso lustre might adorn a monarch's head: 
 
 I Eutei"^te's lingers touch a golden lyre, 
 
 j And shrines are lighted bv a vestal fire : 
 
 I There fame and glory hold no titled mark ; 
 
 I The boasted greatness of Le Graxd Moxarqvk, 
 
 ( ould win for him no greater meed of praise 
 Than waits to charm and crown our future days. ' ' 
 
 (Tamaille's love with her young life was wrought; 
 His words with strong ambition's fervor, sought 
 To change the insight of her literal mind 
 And with his viewe; her clearer vision bind; 
 The cherished dreaiii of her betrothal, stood 
 Crowned with sweet hope, the acme of all good; 
 The tyriau folds that o'er iiis fancy spread, 
 Stirred not with luring tint her thoughtful head; 
 The mirage held for her no glittering scene, 
 Nor filtering rays of winged Plutus sheen. 
 
 A flush of i>ain disturbed her gentle face, 
 And [»rescient wisdom marked its quiet grace. 
 ' 'Nay, stay, Alphonse, I cannot break the past, 
 Where all my earl}' dreams with home are cast; 
 No skies are sunny where 1 cannot see 
 The light that lills your eyes with love for me; 
 The circling years might act a changing i)art^ 
 And lengthy separation alienate your heart. ' ' 
 
 ''Nay, my sweet wife, for by that cheri.shed name 
 I'll bear your love with me; its hallowed flame 
 
(i. 
 
 Shall w:ikc each exiled morn from dull repose, 
 Watch each long day and guard its dusky close. 
 Twelve circling times fiiir Luna's disk shall spread, 
 One added furrow mark Tinie's wrinkled head, 
 By silvery streams where mirrored flowers stand. 
 Bordering the green Savannas on each strand, 
 Where Silvan echoes stir the halmy air, 
 And breezes kiss the fire from Ph^ehus' glare, 
 A home of beauty for an empress meet, 
 Shall wait the coming of our hastening feet." 
 
 Silenced, but not convinced, Gamiille's part 
 Was mute submission. In her woman's heart, 
 Further remonstrance, like a frightened bird. 
 Half poised its Ming to breathe the objecting word: 
 She pressed it back— 'tw^ere nursing folly still 
 To .nrgue with his rash impetuous will . 
 
 The shadowy hours crept by with stealthy tread, 
 Bringing the orange bloom to crown her head. 
 Within the cottage homa the old Priest stands, 
 Weaving the silken chain of Hymen's bands, 
 With upraised hand and eloquence suldime, 
 Enti-eating Heavenly blessings through all time. 
 The bride stood on the threshold of her youth 
 In the sweet strength that's given to love and truth, 
 Gathering no shadow from the vanished past, 
 Weaving no gloom o'er future days to cast. 
 
 Again within the cottage door they stood; 
 Conflicting passions fired his youthful blood. 
 . He longed to ride the ocean's limpid blue, 
 And walk the distant shore untried and new; 
 
 JP 
 
^ 7. •# 
 
 I 
 
 But felt a pain he scarce himself would own— ' 
 
 Pondering his exile 'neath Columbia's zone- 
 No other lieart such love for him could hold, 
 Nor trust more strong all future time unfold. 
 It ran along her low ' 'God speed; good bye, ' ' 
 And locked the tears beneath her moistening eye 
 By her own strength and wifely earnestness— 
 liy her own power of lasting tenderness— 
 Whose fibres strong no stress of time could part, 
 .She weighed the loyal m;'asure of his heart. 
 
 Most silent natures keenest suftering feel, 
 And often these most patient love reveal. 
 Another wept and fainted, when the tide 
 Bore her impulsive lover from her side, 
 And on a suitor new, when autumn glowed 
 With ripe red fruits, her heart again bestowed. 
 But sad Gamiiille no-.v counted all the days. 
 Their tai"dy dawns, their lingering sunset rays. 
 
 On smooth calm seas they had neared the famous 
 
 land, 
 When anxious eyes the chaughig Heavens scanned— 
 While threatening rushed ^jlus' fickle train, 
 Stirring the troubled bosom of the main. 
 Old Boreas blew a swift increasing blast, 
 And groaning, swayed the burthened, giddy mast; 
 As wilder grew the storm-king's fitful wails. 
 All hands made haste to reef the swelling sails; 
 Above the beaded air Jove's thunders rode,— 
 Tlie muttering clouds witli (piick red lightnings 
 
 glowed ; 
 

 And where the wave-robed Xereids sportive roam, 
 The to!<siing cirele donntd a leaden gloom; 
 Strong" men high hoping, watched tlie furious nighl . 
 And the slow I'oot.'^teps of the dingy light, 
 Tluit cleaved the sahle east, then bolder grew, 
 As bright Aurora pr< ssed reluctant through 
 The pathless tields of weird and shapeless mist, 
 A ml Neptuno'8 fact the golden morning kissed. 
 
 The fairy spring time raised her glowing head. 
 And plains grew green beneath her silent tread: 
 Pew-laden llowers fell from her generous hands. 
 Whose blooming decked the verdure covered lands : 
 The fields with modest gaze of violet tinted eyes. 
 And waving grass, ajjplauded lialmy $kies. 
 
 'ilie rude-built fort on Carolin:v's shore, 
 
 Where blue Atlantic llings his constant roar, 
 
 ileld lurking danger. Disappointment's sluules 
 
 Clouded fair Ho]»e within the pallisades. 
 
 They could not build the fortunes they would rear. 
 
 In the short sjiace of one ( j hemeral year: 
 
 With the wild foes of frontier life to meet, 
 
 Bewildere<\ in the paths ftf savage feet, 
 
 Unbroken forests stretching far behind; 
 
 The yielding mines fhey fancied soon to lind, 
 
 (Jovered by rocks, but reached through swanu»y 
 
 waste, 
 Defied the zeal of their imiiatient haste. 
 
 Alphon.se grew weary with the restraining bounds, 
 That ke])t them near the fort's protective grounds, 
 

 And disaffected by the exhausting toil 
 That felled the forest— tilled the virgin soil- 
 He leagued with other two, in friendship bound. 
 An 1 guiding natives for their purpose found, 
 To lead tlieni through the wilderness conlines, 
 Where lay the yellow wealth of golden mines. 
 Three days beguiledtheir way with mirth and song; 
 From sweet repose they waked refreshed and strong; 
 But Doubt began to spread its misty wings. 
 And .Silence coined her faithless whisperings; 
 Yet on o'er lengthening stretch of numerous miles, 
 The guides still led them by perfidious wiles; 
 Desponding now, their Aveakened faltering feet, 
 Bleeding and s )re, waxed every hour less fleet. 
 To the rough fort they feign would have returned: 
 For its sweet rest their longing natures yearned. 
 Towai-d the west for many silent days, 
 I'heir footsteps pressed unknown and varied w.iys. 
 Halting at sunset once for rest, they stood 
 Within the shadow of a tangled wood. 
 And missed one Indian from their watchful guides, 
 W^ho left their group with shy but rapid strides. 
 From the green thicket of the distant trees. 
 Came floating, like a knell upon the breeze, 
 Three long coined notes of tone so strangely shrill. 
 No bird such faultv melody would trill. 
 Softer, more distant, answering echoes came, 
 Stirring their hearts with fears they would not 
 
 name; 
 And suddenly, as if by magic, stood 
 A score of warriors dark with treacherous blood. 
 Toward their village, with swift feet they sped. 
 The helpless victims bv their capt(n-s led. 
 
 The dark winged night swept o'er the sleepy world, 
 
#• 10 "^ 
 
 'I! 
 
 1 1 And Heaven's blue arch, her starry robes xinfurled , 
 
 I Yet lingered, while the tire's fading glare 
 
 I Showed tlie mute group, now l)ound and in despair; 
 
 I The chiefs aud braves, the wisdom of the trib ', 
 
 The mode of coming torture to |)rescribe. 
 
 Next day Mheu shadows fled from hill and lawn . 
 And Orient skios'grew roseate with the dawn, 
 Each pale faced prisoner, led by savage hand, 
 Api)eared in bonds before the assembled band. 
 AVhile rose Alphonse's faith on wings of prayer, 
 Tlie hideous war dauoe rent the indignant air; 
 Two living lines then form3d an open court,— 
 Even Indian women joined the inhuman sport; 
 Impatient, armed with clubs and pliant thongs, 
 To avenge in blood their oft coaceited wrongs; 
 Then from ti\e painted chiefs, cami forward one 
 Who with wild gesture bade the prisoners run. 
 A tiiousand yells, with Death two victims met, 
 And trembling Hope Alphonse even dares to greet, 
 .\s on o'er plain, through wood, he almost flies 
 Through the long morn 'neiith warmer growing 
 
 skies; 
 And when the hour of V\'sper cahuly spread 
 Her thick aud silent shadows round iiis head, 
 With nerves unstrung by weary miles traversed, 
 His bi'ain excited, phantom tftles rehearsed; 
 Each leaf stirred sigh that weighed the shapeless 
 
 air. 
 Bore wluspering echoes of his latedespaii-; 
 Each bush or tree, by soft toned zephyrs swayed. 
 Held fancied foes who with his torture jjlayed; 
 A^imineous clusters ci'afty natives veiled, 
 Who laughed anon and at his silence railed; 
 
 ■0$^ 
 
-m ^^ 10' 
 
 And when Aurora's penciled banner,^ spread 
 The blushing east with tints of gold and red, 
 Unconscious where his unniarkedpath might lead, 
 rie nerved his limbs to yield their utmost speed. 
 Thus on, through a long stretch of changeless days, 
 His tired feet traversed the gui leless ways; 
 Through cypress swamps, o'er length*! of tangled 
 
 moss, 
 Where silence stretched its weird like gloom a • ross , 
 Save when some feathered songster imcked his 
 
 pain, 
 In theblithy warblings of its woi-dless strain; 
 Or slimy viper raised its warning head, 
 And frightened game to sheltering thicket fled; 
 I'ast murky bayou, edged by grassy blade, 
 Where Diyades spread their woofof cooling shade, 
 'Till hunger quenched the yearning for his kind, 
 And fired the weakened blood his veins confined; 
 Then by a tiny stream, with silvei-y w'^avelets spread, 
 He formed of leaves a pilow for his head, 
 A^nd laid him down— he thought with silent death ; 
 Then crept along his hot impatient breath 
 His Ave Marie, and bits of sa-^red song, 
 And memories came in silent tender throng. 
 'l"hc dear old life crept closely to him now, 
 And cool soft fingers pressed his burning brow; 
 With witchery of love, sweet Soranus came, 
 Soothing the eveballs scorched with unspent flame ; 
 Spray damped his brow from Death's unmoving 
 
 sea,' 
 Where Future veils the Eternal mystery ; 
 But feet of Angels the dark waters pressed. 
 Whose wings brought healing for his painful rest; 
 Delirium stirred his brain with thoughts less wild, 
 
 ^ 
 
^ 
 
 12 
 
 And slum})er wra]jp« <! him like a tirtMl child. 
 
 A leafy thatch bent o'er Alphouse's head, — 
 A dainty couch of skins beneath hijii spread; 
 And by him stood a graceful, willowy form, 
 With dusky brow and eyes of lustre warm. 
 She watched the passing of the phantom hand. 
 That beckoned him from out the shadow land : 
 And waited with eager eyes, and throbbing breast, 
 To see the breaking of his peaceful rest. 
 A suit awakening comes, when Death with Life, 
 lias waged a desperate unsuccessful strife; 
 Nature unnerved, the fluttering pulses thrill, 
 And healthy minds influence the weakened will. 
 Wantaga's tribe had found him as he lay, 
 Helpless and dying, at the close of day. 
 And their Great Spirit, in his mystic flight. 
 Had called to them in w hispered dreams tluit night : 
 Saying the ])ale faced waif sh(,uld li\e to stan<l 
 A mighty chief and ruler in tlieir band; 
 The scali»s of hottitle tribes his belt should wear. 
 And meeds of war should crow n his shining hair. 
 The fairest of the maidens, bright Sequest, 
 Oft came and laid her head upon his breast; 
 And when health tinged again his flUing cheek, 
 Her dialect she taught his lips to speak; 
 Her manner shyness nor restraint i)artook. 
 But breathed her love in every w ord and look. 
 And thus the days wore on, the hunting ground 
 Held in each hidden nook the fatted game, 
 And Autunm airy-tongued came whisi)ering roun<l . 
 I'inting each bush and flower with russet flame. 
 
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 18 
 
 ~'k4K 
 
 He heard the soft How of the sluggish rills, 
 And watched the smoke enwrap the silent hills; 
 The robin chirped aud sin(Jothed his reddened i| 
 
 breast, i! 
 
 "While falling leaves tilled up the useless nest; j 
 
 The punctual days pressed through the foggy gloom, ; | 
 
 And kissed the dew from mute Arachne's loom; ij 
 
 The mid-day glory borrowed summer's light \\ 
 
 To breathe upon the verdure tedious blight; ji 
 
 And wlien dim Vesper swept heraacred lyre, j 
 
 Hesperian regions clasped a ball of lire. j 
 
 To him, these sad inspiring scenes among, 
 Came the soft echo of Gamaille's song; 
 Her ceasless love had swept the trackless sea, 
 And breathed on him through Nature's minstrelsy. 
 
 Gamaille's eyes still looked in hope afar, 
 For the slow rising of their distant star. 
 They saw no phantom of unsoothing fear. 
 Nor o'er their lustre crept the useless tear. 
 Loving and hopeful, days seemed not so long 
 When tender care inspired the exultant song. 
 That breathed to her what wealth of glad surpri- 
 Her own sweet news should lift into his eyes. 
 
 Fast grew the dainty lace her lingers wrought, 
 While fondest gaze her sleeping treasure sought; 
 The deft Maeonian maid of mystic lore, 
 Might blush to see the robes her infant wore. 
 
 Once since she stood a bride, so young and fair, 
 The heraldry of Death had entered there; 
 
14 •# 
 
 And when her mothei''s loving sight grew dim 
 She thought Alphonse had come; and urging him 
 To guard with tender care, through coming life, 
 Her only child, his true and gentle wife. 
 One weakliandclaspedGaniaille's,so soft audfair, 
 The otlier grasped at unsuhstantial air; 
 And to the stiffening lips Death's angel gave 
 A smile, born of the light beyond the grave. 
 
 Touched, but not stricken bv the hand of care, 
 Sorrowing, but not held bv weak despair, 
 With none of kin to claim affection now, 
 Exce])t her child, who had his father's brow, 
 His hair, and eyes of wondrous depth: the boy, 
 ' 'A thing of beauty" and an endless jo v. 
 
 Each distant step that pressed in haste the street. 
 Where ever rang the song of hurrying feet, 
 H" drawing near her door, caused a quick thrill 
 To grasp her heart, against forbidding will. 
 
 The months had passed her quietly and slow, 
 The round of seasons with their tidal flow 
 Rolled up and ebbed; but left upon her sti-and, 
 No tidings from the far off" flower land. 
 She smoothed her baby's hair— iieard him coo, 
 Held him aloft to hear him laugh and crow : 
 Laid by the long clothes, held the strengthening 
 
 arm, 
 Watching the venturous steps to guard from harm. 
 
 Three .silent years their added wisdom shed, 
 With crowning beauty, on the shining head; 
 And he had learned to iisp his father's name, 
 
 0^^-' 
 
And still an added kiss for him to claim; 
 
 But slowly like some dim uncertain gloom, 
 
 A shadow settled o'er their cottage home. 
 
 Gamaille bari-ed her doors to doubt, hut fear 
 
 Used long delay to poison her quiet sphere. 
 
 She sold her cottage, took her prattling child 
 
 To the old Prie-st for blessings. He incredulous 
 
 smiled. 
 ' 'You will not tempt destruction thus, the sea 
 Borders no fairer land than this. 'Twill be 
 The hight of fully. He you seek is dead. 
 Or worse — has found another love instead . ' ' 
 
 "Nay, never that! The Dauphine's base is firm, 
 Broad is the sea that cradles calm and storm, 
 And long the days that counted are as years, 
 And years as days, Avhere Time Eternal rears 
 The column formed of future and the past, 
 Far from the reach of vain iconoclast. 
 P'ii-m as that mount, unmeasured as the sea, 
 Sure as those annals, is his love for me. ' ' 
 
 The summer arms embraced the terraced hills, 
 And at their feet smiled on the silvery Rhone, 
 Where flooding baths of golden sunlight fills, 
 Kach nook within the verdure breathing zone. 
 The Alpine heights in glacial blue array. 
 Looked down serenely where the cloudlets lay ; 
 Along the valleys, through the winding hills, 
 And by the rivers creeping toward Marseilles, 
 Gamaille hastened; she had waited long. 
 Her faith still buoyed by heraflection strong; 
 And on an out-bound ship at length she stood, 
 Nursing her heart with hope's alluring food. 
 
% 16 -^ 
 
 No stoima -with fei-l ikstrnctive. trod thtir way; 
 The same calm kiiulling of the liri-i of day; 
 The same still sinisets, like a sea of gold 
 Meeting a sea of Avaters — days swept by untold. 
 The young horned moon hergrowing face increased 
 'Till full her orb walked up the shadowy east; 
 Fair mermaids danced upon old Neptune's breast, 
 And in his coral cliaiubeis sought their i-est. 
 
 One day when looking o'er the shorele.-s sea, 
 
 Holding her child, and lost in reverie, 
 
 .•?he felt him shiver in her loving grasi), 
 
 And catch her hands with nervous, fitful ciasp. 
 
 His little feet were cold; his brow was hot — 
 
 A mystic hand had laid a hectic spot 
 
 Upon each ijeachy cheek. Over his tVanie 
 
 Alternate sways of chill and fever came. 
 
 Through wearying hours, with throbs his bosom 
 
 swelled, 
 And sudden spasms his failing system held. 
 
 The sleepless night wore on. The mother's stmi 
 Was strained to very madness. Morning stole 
 Swift footed from the east. The sick boy's eyes, 
 Veiled by thin lids that lluttering tried to rise. 
 Were looking on a green and fadeless shore, 
 Radient with light that beams forever more,— 
 The glittering facades on the golden streets, 
 Gleamed down on pathways trod])y angel feet. 
 
 Pressed to her heart his snowj- bosom lay, 
 Still growing colder 'neath Death's icy sway; 
 More slowly came the heart-throbs; whispers stir- 
 red the room; 
 
17 
 
 Tl>e morning air seemed weighed wlMi shapeless 
 gloom. 
 
 Rigid, as if no pain with wounding maze, 
 Hung o'er her heart, Gamaille with tearless gaze , 
 Looked on the wants and cares that strangers tend, 
 When gi-ief and kindness sympathising blend. 
 The ship lay resting on the yielding wave- 
 She looked in silence on its ' 'wandering grave ;" 
 And on the rough but tender hearted crowd 
 Who placed her boy, 'in shotted hammock shroud , ' 
 Upon the plank, and silent held it there. 
 With bowed heads to hear the reverent prayer: 
 "Oh Thou who vanquished powers of Death in 
 
 strife, 
 Who art the Resurrection and the Life, 
 Save thou the soul from endless death and pain , 
 Wash with thy blood and cleanse each mortal stain ! 
 To Thee, whose watchings never cease in sleep, 
 Commit we now his soul : and to the deej) 
 His body. ' ' The waters soft and blue , 
 Received their treasm-e, then clasped hands anew. 
 The ship moved on; the ever moaning surge 
 Answered Gamaille's wail, that like a dirge, 
 Xow thrilled the air. The fountain of her tears, 
 Where hope had locked the silent cares of years, 
 Was open now. Tears bring their own relief, 
 Easing the pain that holds a sodden grief. 
 But nevermore her laugh rang blithe and gay; 
 isever again, with graceful willowy sway. 
 And springing step, Avould move her youthful form . 
 Days crowded years upon her looks . The .storm 
 Which she had battled bravely, pressed her now, 
 And marked its lines upon her smooth white broAV. 
 
^. 
 
 18 -^ 
 
 Mill-king the coast the rocky turrets stood, 
 
 Gliuting with snatch of green and distant wood; 
 
 The sea gull floated lazily along, 
 
 Greeting the auk that joined his mournful song; 
 
 To hight of rock the eagle bore the food, 
 
 To still the croaking of her callow brood. 
 
 With flight subdued, and sober tinted beam, 
 Hope's hand retouched Gamaille's pensive dream. 
 She stood before the fort. The owl with ominous 
 
 croak 
 That made her start, the gloaming silence broke. 
 
 ' 'Alphonse had left them years ago, ' ' they said ; 
 They spoke of him long since as of the dead. ' ' 
 Left them. And that Mas all— or how— or Avhen, 
 Seemed to have fled the memories of the men . 
 "The path he took, bis fate, we cannot tell: 
 He gave no parting Avord, left no farewell. ' ' 
 
 Thus fell the blow! She fought the battle there. 
 With mute white lips, and thin hands clasped in 
 
 prayer. 
 The blast is tempered when the iamb is shorn. 
 Hearts tried by grief in ti-ial are not torn. 
 She clasped the strength where I'esignation lies, 
 And breathed anointing auras from the skies ; 
 While walking o'er the fleeting patlis of yenrs, 
 Cypress and drooping willow drank her tears. 
 Then at her side the quiet olive sprung, 
 And hawthornes their inspiring \»etals strung. 
 Thus moved the days; oft maidens smiled and 
 
 blushed. 
 Hearing the same old story new again ; 
 
19 
 
 Ever and anon the song of life was hushed, 
 And love lay sleeping 'neath the summer rain. 
 
 Many are the graves o'er v.hich no marble gleams, 
 In mystic realm where pale the cenotaph heams ; 
 A look or tone, mav raise the unbidden ghost, 
 Of broken idol we have worshipped most. 
 And though Uamaille had taught her sad crushed 
 
 heart. 
 Neither for loved or lost again to mourn, 
 Mysteriously the fastened doors would start, 
 And memory's touch relight the sacred urn. 
 
 The crov.ning of her years was that content, 
 Which falls on woman when her youth is spent. 
 If grief she saw, to soothe it, tender toned, 
 Was her first mission . Tlie stricken suHerer owned 
 No pain her care and nursing could not calm. 
 With softened touch and words of gentle balm. 
 
 Defiant stalked contending Gods of war. 
 Their bloody banners spreading gloom afar; 
 The waves that kissed the Altamaha's shore, 
 Regave the light that glowed from torch of Moore* 
 His reeking sword Savanna's waters pressed, 
 Staining witli Apalachian blood their silvery crest. 
 War may disable hate, but cannot kill; — 
 Though fires are quelled the embers smoulder still; 
 Revenge may seem to droop his raven wing. 
 And with bowed head exultant orgies sing; 
 With sudden cries he filled the star-crowned night. 
 And bade the skies embrace the reaching light — 
 
 •Governor of South of Carolina. 
 
 i^^ 
 
20 
 
 Beneath whose arms in shimmering hot confines. 
 
 Melted the homes of helpless Palatines.* 
 
 The Avell armed trooi)s in ranks of Le Feboure, 
 
 With drawn toledos on Atlantic's shore, 
 
 Were scarce repulsed: when from the forests came 
 
 The Yamasee, with tomahawk and flame. 
 
 The colony grew sti-onger through each year, 
 Though Indian warfare thinned its bravest ranks, 
 But Mars at times regave the wall his spear, 
 And transient olives blessed the sunny banks. 
 Gei'ms of a nation, there the Patriarchs stood. 
 Nursing dark deeds that since have called them 
 
 sires — 
 Planting the trade that dealt in Afric's blood — 
 And built the shrines where burned their children's 
 
 l^y res . 
 
 Our fate is not our own — the Hand that guides 
 The labyrinthian thread of destinj', 
 Often in adverse ways His wisdom hides, 
 Shrouding the good attained in mystery, 
 
 Alphonse had yielded, but with little grace, 
 While dextrous hands transformed his manly face 
 With uncouth paints, and trained his glossy hair 
 That he the look of Indian chief might wear. 
 And then they bade him wed their bright eyed maid , 
 Gathering the tribe beneath the forest shade. 
 To feast and dance, with gesture quaint and wild, 
 While savage song the fleeting hours beguiled. 
 
 •Colony of Germans. 
 
21 
 
 He obstinate stood, but speaking to refuse 
 The proflfered honor. Then they bade him choose 
 ' Twixt that and death . He pondered if ' t were best. 
 To court their torture or espouse Sequest. 
 
 The Indian maiden, like a trembling bird. 
 With throbbing heart his stern refusal heard : 
 With pleading glance of dark ect -ancing eyes. 
 She knelt in silence and refused to rise. 
 No speech of worded eloquence was there— 
 Her posture breathed the untutored heart' s despair . 
 
 Life with her love, or death with torture; why 
 Is love of life more strong when Death seems nigh? 
 Life and her love he chose. Her smiles were bright 
 And filled her eyes a happy trusting light. 
 
 Alphonse amid their gravest councils stood; 
 The dusky braves oft' to his mandate bowed; 
 Between them flowed no ties of kindred blood, 
 Yet of his wisdom often they were proud . 
 He loved the chase more than his rude built home- 
 Haply, perhaps, no children came to roam 
 About his knees— with sweet unstudied grace. 
 To bind him where love found no resting place. 
 
 He often walked in dreams the buried past, 
 And saw its glow around his pathway cast; 
 His sleeping lips oft breathed Gamaille's name, 
 Touching 8equest's fond heart with jealous flame. 
 He seemed to stand alone, where crystal waves 
 Flowed with soft cadence over silvery sands; 
 The distant hills stretched down green sloping paves 
 And palmate shadows flitted o'er the strand ; 
 
22 
 
 Each crested wavelet bore Gamaille's face, 
 Aud plashiug at his feet was wafted by 
 In whispers soft, nor left nor sign nor trace, 
 Save the low echo of a stifled sigh. 
 
 The arduous years stretched their continuous chain , 
 And change aud progress followed in their train; 
 Fairer than Indian faces came to peer 
 Through wooded gloom, to hunt the startled deer; 
 Along the shores where the Great Water flowed, 
 The dancing flames on white men's hearthstones 
 
 glowed; 
 And drawing to the northward and the west, 
 Discouragedtribes sought out new hunting grounds, 
 While dotting o'er the southland's sunny breast. 
 Where wigwams stood thepallisade was found. 
 
 A score of years had passed, and many a brave 
 Trod mystic hunting grounds beyond the grave ; 
 Once more the southing sun his heralds sent, 
 Ripomiig for Alphonse a restless discontent. 
 O'er hill and moor, towui-d the southward, turned 
 The longing of his eyes. In silence oft' he yearned 
 For skies of France, so bathed in azure beams. 
 And the SAveet voice, so weird-like in his dreams. 
 Resolved at last, to quit his savage home, 
 He dared the danger when the mid-night gloom 
 Hung folds dark as Erebus o'er the earth at rest, 
 And stirred the ominous visions of Sequest. 
 
 The morning waked the world with skies of gray ; 
 With cheerful strength he pressed his onward way; 
 Palatial cloud-homes gathered one by one, 
 Forming unpillared cities in the air; 
 
23 
 
 The wiuds caught Memnon's music from the sun, 
 And breezy echoes held it pinioned there. 
 The fading rose leaves shed their fragrant breath, 
 Giving t-heir queenly rule to other flowers ; 
 The floral pageant smiled even at their death, 
 When distant Iris arched the ceasing showers. 
 Now chanced his bow to thwart the flight of game; 
 Now cooked his food the camp-iii-e's ruddy flanae; 
 Wearied when night-fall wore her starry crest, 
 Slumber's cai'essings wooed him soon to rest; 
 From silent musing into dream-land sinking, 
 To join with visions that he had been thinking— 
 Of greetings kind by friends within the Fort,— 
 Of filling sails out-riding from the port. 
 
 He stood astonished at the pictures strange, 
 Painted by life's great Artists— Time and Change. 
 Around the fort a thriving village stood, 
 And yielding fields lav where had been the wood; 
 Where in the past, had spread the boggy moor, 
 Green seas of rice displayed their growing store; 
 Even the stream was held for use, and plied 
 The busy wheel that labored by its side. 
 
 A modest church stood near, and graves were seen. 
 Fresh made, and old with flowery aisles between. 
 Alphonse turned there depressed, he knew not why, 
 And on the first memorial that caught his eye, 
 Was this : ' 'Gamaille. Eewarded of her God. ' ' 
 Some fresh culled blossoms rested on the sod, 
 Distilling fragrance from their censer fair, 
 To freight the dews which bathed the saci-ed air. 
 
24 
 
 The old Sacristan saw him and drew near. 
 
 "Tell me," Alphonse asked, "who's sleeping 
 
 here?' ' 
 ' 'A woman, broken hearted many a year ago, 
 Vrho dragged her life out wearily and slow ; 
 She came from France, from Lyons on the Rhone; 
 Buried her child at sea, and came alone, 
 To find her husband— whom she sought was dead. 
 She drooped at first; the glow from life had fled; 
 Then like a spirit-w^aif she seemed to glide, 
 Her fittest station by the sufferer's side. 
 But this sad tale though true, is wasting time, 
 And I must haste to ring the vesper chime . ' ' 
 
 Time brought the summer of each circling year. 
 And laid fresh flowers on the sodded grave ; 
 The softened moon-light bathed the crystal mere 
 In mirrors, which each pulse of air regave; 
 And often at the night-fall, rumor said, 
 A bent old Sachem came, and with bowed head, 
 Knelt on tiie grassy mound, in silent prayer. 
 The stars grew pale one morn; he still was there, 
 With clasped hands, and half closed stony eyes. 
 Grown bright in realms wherein no shadow lies ; 
 Ivind villagers took up the unknown brave, 
 And robed him in tit clothing for the grave; 
 But found him fair, except his swarthy face, 
 And gave him, by Gamaille, a dreamless resting 
 place. 
 
 ^ ^ 
 
25 
 
 EVENING. 
 
 Sweet evening hour; 
 
 When in his gorgeous golden shroud, 
 The sun with lessening power. 
 
 Rolls down behind the western cloud. 
 
 Sweet evening hour; 
 
 When twilight shadows sombre thoughts impart; 
 When bj^ some mystic power, 
 
 A weird-like sadness falls upon the heart. 
 
 Sweet evening hour; 
 
 When Luna's silver sandaled feet 
 Fall on the rose girt bower, 
 
 Where stolen love and beauty meet. 
 
 Sweet evening hour; 
 
 When on the ' 'dome not reared with hands, ' ' 
 But by Inlinite power, 
 
 A star-gemed coronet stands. 
 
 Sweet evening hour; 
 
 When Heaven weeps to seethe night's dark pall; 
 Wlien on each bud and flower. 
 
 In pearly dew the tear-drops fall. 
 
26 
 
 OJJR WORK. 
 
 "The marmot enters the stifleningniold, 
 And the worm its dark sepulchral fold, ' ' 
 But the circling seasons come and go — 
 Their noiseless changes in silence flow. 
 And the homelj- worm at length forsakes 
 Kis narrow home, and his Aving partakes 
 Of the Avondrous tints that smile and beam 
 On the rainbow's arch or in sunset gleam. 
 
 Time is our builder; the arches rise 
 Like lengthened columns toward the skies ; 
 And though ouk work may lie belovv , 
 And no meed of praise tiie present bestow, 
 From the homely grains of the deeds we do. 
 The beautilul harvests of glory grow. 
 Year after year life's work is done, 
 Through gloom and tempest and shining sun. 
 
 And what to us if we sow or reap? 
 
 The lord of the harvest our journal Avill keep. 
 
 The meed is as great if we tend tl:«!^leaves, 
 
 Or gather the wealth of golden sheaves. 
 
 The skies may be heavy with slumbi'ous iim 
 
 That parches the soil. The planters may tire, 
 
 We may see the shades gather and the day grow 
 
 late, 
 'Tis the beauty of patience to ' 'labor and wait. ' ' 
 
 ^ 
 
27 
 
 I>EA». 
 
 The bro'.vii clifl" stands over the eastern sh.ore, 
 
 The waves plash and moan in ceaseless unrest — 
 A little white cottage stands back, and the roar 
 Of the sea as old Xeptune throws up tha white 
 
 cresl, 
 Greets the cot where it lavs 'gainst the moutain's 
 breast 
 
 Like a wild bird at rest. 
 
 One lone, gray-haired occupant stands in the door, 
 Looking out toward the grave-j^ard over the lea; 
 Half fancying she hears what she never shall more— 
 The old, v/ell-learned footfalls over the floor. 
 And the quick step of childhood; but this cannot 
 be- 
 lt is naught but the sea ! 
 
 The dim gloaming thickei\s o'er mountain and 
 shore. 
 The shadows grow heavier over the door; 
 Arid — is that a traveller comes up from the tide? 
 Ah! lior eyes da not ciieat her, though fancy runs 
 
 Vv-ild 
 Thinking of the dead father and the last baby- 
 child 
 
 Out there side bv side. 
 
 
28 
 
 Two jears, did you say? since you gave them youv 
 kiss? 
 'Tis a long time to bear such a load of suspense. 
 Yes, my heart has so ached for the voices 1 miss- 
 But my grief for the dead has been xotiiixg to 
 
 this, 
 That is heavy and dark, but in time it relents; 
 This is sorrow intense. 
 
 Dead too; my brave boys. I have lulled them to 
 sleep 
 With their heads on my bosom;":felt the soft clas;) 
 Of little warm hands so tenderly sweet 
 Entw iuing m\' throat in their infantile grasp; 
 That was years ago though, and this is the last; 
 Eut is memory past? 
 
 Dead — did both die in prison; my Herbert and 
 Claire? 
 This is part of the ransom, their country is frke . 
 I could give them to battle ; death's glory but there 
 To breathe out their lives in slow torture, to be 
 Denied the fair earth aHd sweet scented air. 
 Starved to death? 'tis despair. 
 
 Died; and there, with the damp earth alone for 
 their beds, 
 And the fierce burning rays of the pitiless sun, 
 Sinking down through the long summer days on 
 their heads ; 
 Can they call themselves men Avho this deed have 
 
 done? 
 God forgive them, I cannot, their wages shall be 
 Their own infamv. 
 
 JP- 
 
29 
 
 Hark ! the anthems of ti-iumph ! the country is free > 
 
 And the peace-bells are ringing their glad jubilee ; 
 
 'Tis a proud day, we all say, but what's that to me? 
 
 Though some have their freedom and others their 
 
 fame, 
 That to gladden their hearts, this to circle their 
 
 heads; 
 And our fair country still has its glorious name. 
 I should joy in the gladness? my heakt aches 
 instead — 
 
 I have only ' *my dead. ' ' 
 
 THE POET'S miEAI?!. 
 
 Give me to soar on fancy's wing. 
 
 To tread the envied field of song. 
 To tune my harp where poets sing , 
 
 To stand amid the unnumbered throng; 
 And though mj^ lyre be never heard. 
 
 For sweeter strains that round me flow , 
 No quickening pulse of flame be stirred— 
 
 No laurels Avait with freshest glow- 
 Give me that field; for me be there 
 
 The dreams which songsters only know; 
 Be mine a humble crown to wear, 
 
 My joy the sti'ains that round me flow . 
 
 I would not walk in marble halls , 
 
80 
 
 Where tinseled greatness holds herswaj', 
 Where vice in garb of pleasure calls 
 
 The heart from truth and right away; 
 Where honeyed smiles but mask deceit, 
 
 And Avealth alone can purchase friends, 
 Where thousands worship at the shrine, 
 
 Where men eyed- worth her power lends. 
 Be mine the lot to trace the flight 
 
 Of mystic fancy's silver wing — 
 To tread thought's golden field of light, 
 
 And sing the souse that poets sing. 
 
 IHiv NEW YEAR. 
 
 I stood alone last night; the tidal v.'aves. 
 
 Swift-fingered turned the glass of ceaseless sand, 
 Counting the annual mounds ;the changeless graves. 
 
 Where buried ages lie along the strand. 
 And as I gazed Time came with sable bier. 
 
 With gentle mien and still unvarying tread, 
 And slow-paced hours, pall-bearers of the year, 
 
 Placed iu the vaulted past their cherished dead. 
 
 The Avings of darkness spread their shadows down, 
 And stars that sparkled on the brow of night. 
 
 With softer radience than a ruler's crown, 
 Shed over all their tender, pitymg light. 
 
 The wild winds chanted requiems o'er the dead. 
 
31 
 
 The distant belfry chimed his funeral knell, 
 And pale winged memories gathered round his 
 head, 
 With songs of praise the future years shall swell . 
 
 With generous hand the ephemeral child of Time , 
 
 While keeping still our country's royal vow, 
 Rang pleasure's melodies with joyous chime; 
 
 'Neath sultry skies the summer's dewy brow 
 Was garlanded Avith Ceres' plenteous crown; 
 
 Then pale-browed autumn journied to the grave, 
 Painting here scenes with tints of gold and brown, 
 
 Trailing har robes of mist and mellow beam, 
 Lingering like life the promised boon to brave. 
 
 That future days would all the past redeem. 
 With hallowed -step and glory-mantled brow, 
 
 In calm repose the old year went to rest — 
 His deeds beneath his winding sheet of snow, 
 
 Folded like hands across his pulseless breast. 
 
 A fair young bride looked on the sombre bier. 
 Where crape and cypress decked the cold white 
 year; 
 
 Then turned with jeweled crown and mystic wand, 
 
 To hear the minstrels in her joyous band. 
 
 The stars clasped hands across the vaulted skies, 
 And Atlas veiled the silvery midnight queen; 
 
 Aurora bade the morning heralds rise. 
 And bathe the dim grey east in golden sheen. 
 
 The wild winds tune their airy harps and sing. 
 
 And bridal paeans through the heavens ring. 
 
 Oh! unknown year where future sorrows weep. 
 In whose locked chamber unseen pleasures sleep; 
 
 ^ 
 
32 
 
 Oh! year of promise, in that realm of thine 
 Lie kindling fires to light our country's shriue : 
 Oh, royal year. Time's latest chosen bride, 
 Soften his heart, gently his footsteps guide; 
 Let sorrows perish, tune your minstrelsy 
 To joys that are and joys that are to be. 
 
 Though winter holds the earth in strong embrace, 
 
 Spring time will warm her through the April 
 showers. 
 Sweet May with violet eyes will light her face, 
 
 Dress her in robes of green and crown of flowers ; 
 Summer will breathe o'er all through gorgeous 
 days. 
 
 And starry nights will weep refreshing dews 
 Upon the fields, where white the harvest lays; 
 
 And on the hills where hang the mists of blue, 
 Autumn will drape the skies in laden clouds. 
 
 Breathing slow death upon the floral bloom; 
 And glide with chilling feet towards the shrouds, 
 
 That fold in cold embrace December's gloom. 
 Oh, may there rest upon the frozen hearth. 
 
 No sad regrets for golden moments flown. 
 For evil thoughts that gave to crime its birth, 
 
 For weeds of sin where virtue's seed was sown. 
 
 I 
 
33 
 
 UEBTY WORSHIP. 
 
 The Grecian found within the forest gloom, 
 In dim sequestered nooli, the Dryad's home: 
 And worshipped him, while o ' er the mountain fled , 
 The swift young stag, and fleeter Oread; 
 The thirsting travelers to the fountain turned. 
 Where pensive Naiad's mystic incense burned. 
 
 The shepherd wandering through Arcadia's grove , 
 Heard voices whispering ' mid the leaves , their love ; 
 Along the many rock and shell paved shores, 
 The dripping hands of Nereids piled their stores ; 
 The Mariner built his altar on the strand, 
 And lit his shrine with reverential hand . 
 
 Sea, earth and air were filled with forms divine- 
 Mom, noon and night re-lit devotion's shrine ; 
 But years have built the throne where reason stands. 
 Crowned of bright wisdom ; she with tireless hands, 
 Has marked the Mythian structure, quaint and vast, 
 With their famed Pallas, errors of the past. 
 
 We upward look and see one Power, whose care 
 Has taught the birds to read the trackless air. 
 He marked the limit of the unmeasured coast, 
 And lit the firmament with starry host; 
 He stayed the storm, and walked the limpid wave, 
 And conquering Death, He triumphed o'er the 
 grave. 
 
34 
 
 A I>REA]TI. 
 
 Weird voices whisper— the twilight's soft hush 
 Brings the low sweep of a blrci-wiiig's rush; 
 The day dies out, and the patter of feet, 
 And noises grow distant along the street. 
 Soft fingers press lightly my weary eyes, 
 And the earth grows nearer the starry skies . 
 The present fades out; the lightfooted years. 
 With their pains and pleasures, smiles and tears— 
 Their storm-cloud and suushine.shadow and gleam, 
 Glide from the shores of the Past like a dream. 
 
 Once more the low plash of the silvery stream, 
 
 And the mountain bird's song on the laurel 
 bough ; 
 The elfin toned zephyrs, whose choruses seem 
 
 Like the notes that from heavenly minstrels flow. 
 I listen to these, and beyond 1 see 
 
 A winding pathway over the green; 
 The old log barn, and the maple tree, 
 
 And the waving wheat-field's golden sheen; 
 The flowers that mirror their bloom in the spring, 
 
 The rock-lain path to the shaded door — 
 The crown wreath of life her memories bring. 
 
 As my foot falls once more on the homestead 
 floor. 
 
 The vision is broken; stranere hands scatter there, 
 
35 
 
 The home-links we gathered so long before; 
 A stranger now sits in our father's chair; 
 
 New height measures mark the cheek of the door. 
 The same song of birds, and the humming of bees, 
 
 The lowing of herds over distant hills ; 
 But tiic shadows are longer that creep from the 
 trees, 
 
 As Phoebus his golden circle fills. 
 Out Vv'here in woodland 1 used to play, 
 
 Where I wandered to watch the first flush of the 
 morn, 
 With her curtains of purple and gold and gray, 
 
 There lies a green sea of blossoming corn. 
 
 Where are the loved ones who once were there? 
 
 The beautiful hillsides echo "where?" 
 
 Down in the church-yard their graves are green. 
 
 The fair skies bend over, the earth is between 
 
 Their faces and mine. Life's golden chain 
 
 Has been lengthened by year links again and again. 
 
 Since their kiss thrilled my heart; 'tis years ago 
 
 now, 
 And care lines are gathering over my brow. 
 The harvests are gathered from whence none re- 
 turn, 
 In the fields that lie over the shadowy bourne. 
 
 ^ 
 
MAY. 
 
 We clasp thy mute soft hands, sweet May, 
 And hear the murmur of thy silvery brooks ; 
 
 The carrol of thy birds at break of day, 
 Seeking the cover of thy blossoming nooks; 
 
 Wooing their mates and looking shy, in quest 
 
 Of trusty limb to hold the intended nest. 
 
 We breathe the aurje from thy balmy skies, 
 Treading with lingering steps the grassy floors ; 
 
 Our hearts' best incense with our prayers arise 
 In thanks to heaven for thy sunny stores. 
 
 Lessons of silent patience thou hast bid us learn, 
 
 In our long waiting for thy sweet return. 
 
 I^OST. 
 
 Did you see her pale sad face to-day? 
 With the eyes that are gazing so far away; 
 With a weary step and a stifled sigh, 
 And a breaking heart— did she pass you by? 
 
 She toiled yestreen till the day grew late, 
 
37 
 
 And wearily knocked at your princely gate, 
 For the pitiless mite of your grudging pay, 
 To break her long fast — did she pass this Avay? 
 
 The wall w:as bare, the floor was cold, 
 As she laid her work in iinished fold; 
 The fire died out iu the unfdled grate, 
 As she watched the fading day grow late. 
 
 Her fingers were red where the needle stung— 
 She'd a tender hand for her life vras young; 
 But what matters that, if your robes were neat. 
 And gracefully swept the dusty street? 
 
 Hhe heard not tlie noise of the hurrying feet ,— 
 No step to her threshold came up the street ; 
 She saw the brown earth and the leaden sky, 
 And heard the shapeless winds go by. 
 
 You cement the wall of her ' 'pkoper sphere, ' ' 
 And your eyes are blank if her feet draw near; 
 Yet she feeds her life, and feeds her loves, 
 On a pittance that would not buy you gloves. 
 
 Did she pass you by, up the airy street. 
 
 With her shy wan face, and weary feet? 
 
 You would know her vv^ell you have met befork, 
 
 Not seeking v.orfi, from door to door. 
 
 Did sbe pass you by; or go the other avayv 
 With gaunt faced want in the morning gray; 
 Who never loitered with pause of feet, 
 To keep her steps from the slippery street. 
 
38 
 
 She has gone that way lind can nf^-ver return ! 
 Her heart in its silence will often yearn 
 For the innocence bartered for clothes to wear, 
 And a guilty shelter from want and despair. 
 
 MOKNIIVO. 
 
 Over old Neptune's dominion, 
 
 With its liquid ebb and How, 
 Like the rush of the unseen pinion, 
 
 SwitiOOted, yet soft and low, 
 Tne Nereid's voices are roaming 
 
 Over the shadov^^y sea, 
 The hush of the dark-winged gloaming. 
 
 Gives ear to their minstrelsy. 
 
 All over the eartii are ringing 
 The measured footfalls of lime, 
 
 The fairies in chorus ai-e singing 
 A tender mystical rliyme. 
 
 Out in the starliglit horizon, 
 
 The east is growing gray. 
 And purple and gold and crimson 
 
 Herald the feet of day. 
 
 Aurora, with pencil of morning. 
 Tints thezenitli Avith mellow beam. 
 
#- 
 
 39 
 
 And the silvery robes oi" the daivuiiu 
 Are lit with her radient gleam. 
 
 Softly the davrn's caressing: 
 Enfolds the arching skies; 
 
 The glow of the young day's blessir 
 Is veiled in her lustrous eyes. 
 
 If it were all our mission here, 
 
 To hear and tell life's story o'er, 
 Of joj" and pain, of smile and tear, 
 
 Of friends who walk the earth no more; 
 Of earthly conquest, worldly gain, 
 
 And style, position and renown— 
 Of ends both great and small attained, 
 
 From menial's cot to ruler's crown, 
 We well might hasten to the grave . 
 
 This life is but the shade v.'y dream. 
 To drovrnit all mlethean wave, 
 
 One mingled hour of cloud and gleam 
 To fit us for eternal rest. 
 
 Oh truly ' ' 'Tis not ail of life' ' 
 To spend this fleeting fitful day, 
 
 In earth-born care and petty strife, 
 To live and love— then pass away, 
 
40 
 
 Life is a lesson we all must learn. 
 And oft by sad experience given, 
 
 And death is but the shaded door 
 That leads the passing soul to Heaven 
 
 TISE f-VAIVSEKF.U'S SONG. 
 
 Mother! the spot where first 
 
 The light of life upon my vision burst, 
 
 I hold most dear. 
 'Twas there you watched my smile. 
 And bathed my brow the while, 
 
 By your warm tears . 
 
 Mother! your brow was fair, 
 
 The shining tresses braided nicely there, 
 
 And on your cheek 
 The rose of beauty mantled in soft blush, 
 And your sweet voice my fears to hush, 
 
 \y as mild and meek . 
 
 Mother! your eye was bright, 
 
 Filled with the glow of love's own light, 
 
 Your sweet lips taught 
 ' 'Kovr when I lay me down, ' ' that little prayer, i 
 
 I see thee yet low kneeling thei'e, | 
 
 Beside my cot. 
 
41 
 
 Mother! long years have passed, 
 
 And care and grief around my way, have cast 
 
 Their sable shrouds; 
 The thorns have pierced my feet along the way. 
 And o'ermypath, so bright in youth's sweet day, 
 
 Hang darkening clouds. 
 
 Mother! I'm far trora home— 
 
 From that dear spot where I have loved to roam ; 
 
 That happy day — 
 The day of childhood, too, is far, far back 
 In life's care- beaten varie2:ated ti'ack, 
 
 And YOU are far away. 
 
 Mother ! your once dark hair 
 
 They saj^, is stolen by old Time and care; 
 
 And on your brow 
 Gray age has strewn full many a silver band,— 
 And on your cheek his pale and sinewy hand 
 
 Is resting now. 
 
 Mother! your love-lit eye 
 
 That softly beamed, blue as the Italian sky, 
 
 Is growing dim; 
 And your sweet voice, so like a Siren's note, 
 Trembles while through the chaml)ers float, 
 
 The vesper hymn . 
 
 Mother! they tell me now. 
 
 That death is waiting to entwine your brow; 
 
 I often kneel 
 To breathe the prayer you taught me long ago, — 
 Then golden memories, with brilliant glow, 
 
 Around me steal. 
 
42 
 
 Mother! I worJd that life, 
 
 With all its soitows, care and strife, 
 
 Might lend you hours ; 
 That tile dim lamii might buru till I could come 
 And kneel again to thee in that old home, 
 
 'Mid childhood's bo"0'ers. 
 
 Mother! if this could be; 
 
 If I could once more look on home and thee; 
 
 Thon grief might come, 
 And I could stem the tide with braver heart, 
 Till V. e should meet no more to part, 
 
 In Heaven at home. 
 
 NIGHT. 
 
 Twilight with dingy blush, 
 Had mantled earth ' s lair cheek . Then swift, 
 In gai'b of sombre shad.ows, gently wooed 
 His gray-brovred prophetess; thesi sought to v.'in 
 Pale Luna from her oriental home. 
 With beauteous form of dignity, she arose. 
 And nov,' haif smiling, now half dreaming, now 
 Half veiled bv floating, cloudy mist, she walked 
 The unmeasured leagues of Heaven. 
 
 Her noiseless sandals fell 
 Where Neptune, void of mercj', rules the field. 
 
43 
 
 And lays the hiddeii danger 'ueath the ATtive, 
 That from the wealth and pleasure seeking throng, 
 He oft may claim the good, the brave, the heauti- 
 
 fiil, the loved, 
 To deck his coral halls. 
 
 Sweet Cynthia's face was lit 
 With sad and pensive beauty. The crested waves 
 Half hushed their ceaseless requiem; and the soft, 
 Wing footed night- winds ceased their love tales. 
 Earth borrowed from her charms, and lent 
 A beauty to her loveliness. Soon as her chariot 
 Rolled above the far ofl" hills, old Darkness paused. 
 Drew up the reins, and checked in eager haste. 
 His black and frowning steeds. Then with a softer 
 
 step. 
 And less stern brow. Night wreathed the hills 
 With the pale garlands of his silvery queen. 
 He long had reigned, monarch supreme of all. 
 Empires of space, and chaos,— all. 
 Outside the heavenly gates ; till Time, 
 Eternity's first born, claimed half the hours 
 To serve the golden prince of day. Methinks I yet 
 Can see Night's frightened chargers break away. 
 When from the Eternal gates the thundering voice 
 Of The Omnipotence went forth, and but to speak 
 Was but to be obeyed. He looked in power 
 Upon the Eternal Night, and said: 
 ' 'Let there be light!" and half the darkness turn- 
 ed to day. 
 
 M 
 
44 
 
 BABY S1.EEPS. 
 
 The babv sleeps ! 
 That sleep from which none ever wake again, 
 O'er which no visionary care ofpain, 
 
 Dominion keeps. 
 
 The baby sleeps ! 
 We laid it 'mid the chambers of the dead; 
 The silent city holds its golden head, 
 And o'er its form the drearj- wild flowers spread, 
 
 And ivy creeps . 
 
 Alas the baby sleeps! 
 We clasp no more its tiny hand in onrs, 
 Xor tempt its infant grasp with scarlet flovv'ers, 
 Nor point where Cynthia in the mermaid's bowers, 
 
 Her face in mirror keeps ! 
 
 The baby sleeps ! 
 Dry your tears , no more it weeps ! 
 Its little feet have touched the waveless shore; 
 The babe we loved shall walk forevermore. 
 
 The golden streets. 
 
45 
 
 PHASES OF CHARACTEK, 
 
 Some walk the gloaming, cold and gray, 
 Where funerai iDageants block the way; 
 You may see a shadow where e'er they go, 
 The caves they are heir to you never can know; 
 Except when they tell you— which is the case 
 At every convenient time and place. 
 They rear them towers dark and vast; 
 And the doleful watchman stands aghast, 
 If a vision of mirth from the idle throng. 
 Ever scales the walls in a snatch of song . 
 
 Some saunter along with their cherished pelf, 
 
 Their best loved idol is their own sweet self; 
 
 The Y never have seen the image of want ; 
 
 (Or conscience either) . They jeer and taunt, 
 
 If a hand is held for the dropping of alms, 
 
 Or the air is stirred with the singing of psalms. 
 
 They order their servants in dominant tone — 
 
 No ideas are ever correct save their own ; 
 
 No company is good but the friends they choose,— 
 
 All investments unsafe they deign to refuse. 
 
 While others are flitting here and there. 
 
 With a heart and a step as light as air. 
 
 They cherish their dimples and carry their age, 
 
 'Till they cheat the old adage Of prophet and sage; 
 
 That beneath the green ivv the gray wall moulders. 
 
46 1^ 
 
 And never young heads sit a pair of old shoulders. 
 
 Their mansions are airy, and 'round them a bless- 
 ing 
 
 Seems to shimmer and shine in its mystic caressing; 
 
 They can feel for the grieved, hut their cares are a 
 rarity, 
 
 And they look upon life from the stand-point of 
 Charity. 
 
 THE ¥£ARS GLIDE BY, 
 
 The years glide by while on youth's verdant shore. 
 With hopeful hearts we garner friendship's store; 
 In joyous bands o'er pleasm-e's fields we stray, 
 Where flowers bloom andciystal fountains play. 
 Still fancy's scenes by brighter dreams are fed, 
 Of greener fields and fairer skies o'erhead; 
 Where growing radience fills the future sky. 
 As one by one the silenf years glide by. 
 
 Oh! radient youth, the golden hour of life; 
 Thy fairy paths with secret snares are rife; 
 For evil lurks amid the purple dew, 
 To lure the heart from all things good and true. 
 Some of our band take up new songs of life- 
 Some join the throng where wander care and strife ; 
 And others drop from out the happy train, 
 As drop the links from out Time's mystic chain. 
 
47 
 
 The J' ears pass by. Who with them pass away— 
 Before the heat and burthen of the day. 
 Will never know the ceaseless toil and din, 
 The warfares we are left to wage with sm, 
 The heavy heart-aches and the grieving pain, 
 The trial-days that meet the human train — 
 If or bear the burthens others bear so long, 
 Knowing how hard it is to "Suffer and be strong. ' 
 
 DEATH. 
 
 'Tis an ocean deep with a silent shore, 
 Its waves throw up no angry roar; 
 As they swell and foam in swift unrest, 
 No mermaids sighing, no sea birds crying. 
 Ever rend the air on its hungry breast. 
 
 Wandering eagerly to and fro. 
 
 Freighting the ships that outward go, 
 
 Are plague and fever and crime's red hand; 
 
 The pale horse hurries along the strand. 
 
 His rider reaching over the land. 
 
 Silently treading: Surely spreading 
 
 In mystic loom his woof of gloom. 
 
 To curtain the bowers of love and home. 
 
 Over this untried murky sea, 
 Clothed in its mantle of mystery. 
 
48 
 
 Drift the barques we watched with hated breath, 
 As they mounted the waves in the harbor of 
 
 Death; 
 Joining the souls of the countless fleet 
 That cleave the billow with spirit feet. 
 
 In dreams they are winged from the other side, 
 O'er the ocean that gives no returning tide; 
 The vision air stirs with the rush of wings; 
 The pale- winged guardian angel brings 
 The shimmering silver of Heavenly things. 
 
 TME BYBWG YE4R. 
 
 Death's hand is on the old king's brow; 
 His feeble pulses flutter now; 
 The clock gives warning on the wall, 
 And Time prepares the funeral pall. 
 The Tower is standing olci and gray, 
 Amid the wintry mid-night gloom; 
 The winged winds in plaintive lay, 
 Moan 'round the dying monarch's home. 
 
 The crowd of mourners gathered here. 
 Press closely 'round their sire's bier; 
 Some dusky formed, with close drawn veils, 
 (What wonder that the old year quails,) 
 At sight of they who swelled the flood, 
 
49 
 
 And bathed his first worn robes in blood, 
 Now whispers run along the train, 
 That wake the old man's voice again. 
 
 ' 'Why come ye in this wierd-like hour. 
 To taunt the dying witii your power? 
 I know ye well, ye are my own , 
 Fruit that the Seed Time's hands have sown; 
 Hours that I nui'sed upon my breast. 
 Days that I cradled in vague unrest 1 
 Away ye specti*es, mine eyes grow dim — 
 I care not to look on your crime and sin; 
 Haunt only the fields of the cui'tained past, 
 With your giant shadows dark and vast; 
 Let me perish alone, or let there come 
 Fairer forms than these to watch me home ! ' ' 
 
 The night winds drifted around the tower, 
 And wafted in through the stormy shower. 
 Came angel- watchers dispelling the gloom, 
 Bringing myrrh and incense and sweet perfume; 
 Their steps pressed softly the dreary air, 
 With placid brows and raiment fair. 
 They filled the tower with golden light, 
 Cheering th3 monarch's failing sight. 
 
 Death's shadow deepens on his brow, 
 
 His cheek is growing paler now; 
 
 But high above the wind and rain. 
 
 His voice in welcome rings again. 
 
 ' 'Come with your flowers my death-bed strew, 
 
 Children of sunlight and of dew; 
 
 And you, Sweet Peace, my fairc-st child, 
 
50 
 
 With reason wise mid passion mild, 
 Tiie nation's pangs were not in vain, 
 But may they never wake again; 
 And may your calm existence be, 
 Prolonged through all futurity. ' ' 
 
 Wearied he laid liim down to rest. 
 Life growing faint within his breast; 
 The great beil swings, the * 'steeples rock, 
 The ftir is quivering with the shock, 
 And 'round the old storm-beaten tower 
 Rings out his knell . ' Tis midnight hour ; 
 An Angel writes upon his haad, 
 "Eternity!" The king is dead! 
 
 QUOI> AVERTAT ©EUS.* 
 
 What if the prattling tongue, ^ 
 Where querys manifold and weirdly quaint. 
 Unseen, untrammeled by precise restraint. 
 
 Like pearls are thickly strung, 
 Were still, and answered not my anxious call, 
 Coined no more chatter, wearying me, and all 
 
 The crude attempts to sing 
 
 Or read in mimicing; 
 The sweet endearments that have tired the ear 
 Stirred not the silent air for rrie to hear? 
 
 •■Which God avert. 
 
&r 51 
 
 ^' 
 
 What if the busy hands 
 Working their untaught mischief all day long, 
 With zest which forms no link 'twixt right and 
 wrong, 
 
 And even aid demanded. 
 Had ceased their work, and were forever pressed. 
 Like twin wax figures o'er a pulseless breast; 
 
 Ever to lay so still 
 
 Xever again to thrill 
 With soft caressing of the dainty palm. 
 Healing all wounds with tenderest of balm? 
 
 What if the pattering feet. 
 Whose ceaseless marches hidden treasures find, 
 Marked no more journeyings v/here earth's fetters 
 
 bind, 
 Had left the fading shores with us behind, 
 
 And touched the golden street 
 Unsoiled by dust we older mortals bear, 
 The soul untainted by our earthly care, 
 
 With Priest nor saintly prayer 
 
 The spirit to prepare; 
 And while we bowed to kiss the chastening rod 
 He climed the Immortal Hills before his God? 
 
 The grave demands no care. 
 
 Silence and Death reign there! 
 But oh the void that fills the empty room, 
 And haags the house in drapery of gloom, 
 
 When tiny hands and feet, 
 
 And infant graces sweet, 
 That form the watchmss for our weary eyes. 
 And with new learning make such glad surprise j 
 
The wealth of fond embrace, 
 
 The pure unstudied grace, 
 
 All from our presence glide, 
 
 Upon the mystic tide— 
 A cherub lost from Heaven's bright domain, 
 Then with sweet loving lost to us again. 
 
 TO MIT HUSBAND, 
 
 As brightly beams the noonday sun, 
 From his bright throne the clouds above. 
 
 So brightly and so cheering come 
 Thoughts of thy ever constant love. 
 
 As gently ride the snow white clouds. 
 Like fairy castles o'er the sky. 
 
 Enveloped in their misty shrouds, 
 So pass the hours when thou art nigh. 
 
 As calmly as the transient day 
 Breathes out her life at eventide, 
 
 So calmly mine shall pass away, 
 If the last hour be at thy side. 
 
 As sweetly as the Heavenly tears 
 Fall in the dew from star-light beams , 
 
 So sweetly in the vision spheres, 
 Falls thy loved tones amid my dreams. 
 
 # 
 
53 
 
 Firm as the rock that constant stands, 
 Serf- beaten by the roaring sea, 
 
 Till ugeis link their time-worn hands, 
 So constant— firm— my love for thee . 
 
 -^ 
 
 HAPPINESS. 
 
 Where shall we seek for this radiant gem. 
 More priceless than the diadem; 
 Fairer than Italy's skies of blue, 
 Brighter than sunbeams of golden hue? 
 
 They have searched wnere talent and genius meet, 
 Where nations how at a ruler's feet : 
 Through the halls of the pinnacled tower of fame, 
 Where the thing called Life wears a glittering name . 
 
 'Tis fruitless to look for this radient gem, 
 'Mid the crowns of earth and the honors of men; 
 The glory ol great deeds, the fame of the dead, 
 Are less to be prized than the dust we tread. 
 
 The mind is akiiigdom whose palaces hold. 
 In the grasp of contentment, this casket of gold ; 
 Crov.'ns crumble, thrones totter, and sceptres rust. 
 And return to their^motherliood— * 'Dust to Dust . ' ' 
 But through the long ages this gem still shall be 
 Tile inherited wealth of the lowly and free. 
 
SCATTJEKED. 
 
 The kind adieu Avas passiiog round a liaiipy social 
 
 band; 
 Regret and Love stood silent as we i)ressed the 
 
 friendly hand. 
 "Oh shall we all be here again?" I asked you 
 
 standing oy, 
 When the daric and unknown future on the wings of 
 
 time shall fly. 
 
 We parted. Soon we saw around the sunny South- 
 land home 
 
 The dark red hand of treason scatter the coming 
 gloom, 
 
 And from the serf- washed shores of Maine to £1 
 Dorado's sands, 
 
 We sent with prayers our best beloved to join the 
 dauntless bands. 
 
 From Belmont boomed the signal, when autumn 
 gales were sighing, 
 
 And bathed the fields in dews of blood, when flow- 
 ers and leaves were dying. 
 
 Though the yeax'S were robed in Cypress, the 
 grasses and the snows 
 
 Smiled as with virgin purity amid the nation's 
 throes. 
 
 54 -#• 
 
^^?, 
 
 % 55 
 
 Then Peace was whispering joy to us, after the 
 bitter pi-ice, 
 
 But Freedom asked our hearts to lay an added sac- 
 rifice. 
 
 "Enough !" came from the tomb of the doomed 
 andsiuful Past; 
 
 In the sadest hour we joyed — vv'e gloried. 'Twaa 
 the lastl 
 
 Some from our band are more than dead — they live 
 
 — but sadly changed; 
 The silken link is broken, their love is all enstrang- 
 
 ed; 
 For some the silver cord was loosed, the golden 
 
 bowl T\^a3 broken. 
 Their absence fills the dreary air with tones and 
 
 Avords unspoken . 
 
 For the rest are many waiting paths— for the great 
 world home is wide. 
 
 The fields are white, we cannot wander idly side 
 by side ; 
 
 And when the twilight hours shall come, in mem- 
 ory 'twill be sweet 
 
 To liV'e again our social joys, though we shall 
 never meet. 
 
 4 
 
56 
 
 0]^I.Y. 
 
 Only a waif thrown on the sea, 
 The circling wave its memory. 
 The past and future never meet 
 With clasp of hand or pause of feet; 
 Only a moment hangs between 
 The gleaming ray of future sheen 
 And shadowy-haunted voiceless past; 
 Only a dream from first to last. 
 
 Only a link of precious gold, 
 From the swift passing chain we hold ; 
 And wistfully we dreaming stand, 
 While hours approach our nameless strand, 
 Kissing our feet with sinking spray, 
 Then on Time's billow float away ; 
 With noiseless step these treasures glide 
 On coming and returning tide . 
 
 Some day for you, some day for me, 
 A boat will ride the future sea. 
 I'he waves will brush with moaning hand, 
 Our footprints from the changing sand. 
 To other hearts the tide will flow. 
 On other shrines the love-fires glow; 
 Still on the pearly-fountained stream 
 Will glide the shimm^riu'!:, luring gleam. 
 
57. 
 
 And when a hundred grasses groM", 
 Where your dear form is sleeping low, 
 A hundred autumns sunset trace, 
 Upon my silent resting place, 
 Not one soft breath of memory 
 Will waft its kiss to you, to me. 
 0013*^ the hearse and funeral pall : 
 Only a day their tears will fall. 
 
 THE SEASONS. 
 
 Upon a mountain top I stood. 
 And saw, within a distant wood. 
 Covered with dust of yeai's, that lay 
 Shroud-like upon its turrets gray, 
 A lonely Castle old and quaint; 
 The shadow of a dim restraint, 
 Lay on each tree and flower and brook. 
 On open glade, in sheltered nook. 
 
 The stream, with murmuring silvery sound, 
 
 Slipped by the banks with mosses crowned. 
 
 Or to some winning inlet strained, 
 
 Held by that haunting watchful shade. 
 
 So fast, no faster, could it flow; 
 
 Thus trees might blossom, grasses grow; 
 
 Thus on the wall the ivies creep; 
 
 Thus stars must tread the fields of space. 
 
58. 
 
 Each its appointed patlnvay trace; 
 
 And even the spirit of the dee^), 
 
 Obedient to the shadow's cy.ll, 
 
 Schooled the wild tide to rise and lull 
 
 With measured now . ' 'The young horned mooi, 
 
 Climbed up the eastern hills at noon. 
 
 And came by stern decree, each day 
 
 Later, but fuller, fairer groAvn , 
 From where the orient shadows lay. 
 
 Beneath Aurora's purple zone. 
 
 Lried I, "Ohl Gnome, or Fairy Sprite, 
 
 If either near the Castle dwell, 
 What is this shadow iiaud of migin, 
 
 And whence its power, or why its spe!! V" 
 
 Silence was walking in the wood: 
 With mutfled feet and stealthy tread, 
 
 Her sentinel on the rampart stood, 
 A faded'garland on his head. 
 
 Saic thought, "I'll guide you through the gate, 
 Along the aisles, tiirough the dim halls, 
 
 Show' you the Mcnai ch's chair of sta'.e. 
 The rare old jjictures on the walls. " ' 
 
 Old Father Time was seated there. 
 With wrinkled brow and hoaiy hair; 
 An ever dropping glass of sand, 
 
 Stood on the altar by his side, 
 And link by link, there seemed to glide, 
 
 c\ golden fetter through his h.aud. 
 
# 
 
 59. 
 
 ' ' Dread Spirit of the Scythe and glass ! ' ' 
 
 I cried, ' 'reveal your arts to me; 
 Why hreathe this speil on ilower and grass, 
 
 Why place a. charm upon the sea ? 
 
 Might not the flowers ever bloom, 
 And brightness ever conquer gloom? 
 Why bid the rash and wanton tide. 
 Walk up the beach with angry stride ? 
 
 Why may_not J^nna always pour 
 Her silvery flood on sea and shore- 
 Storm give to sunshine constant sway. 
 And d'lrkness yield to endless day?' ' 
 
 A rushing on the air I heard, 
 Like whirling wind, or flight of bird; 
 A Presence seemed to light the room, 
 Dispelling all its shadowy gloom. 
 Then round the hearth, in silence, stood 
 A graceful, smiling sisterhood. 
 
 Time turned his outrun glass of sand, 
 And speaking to the waiting band. 
 Said, "Princess, take the sword and shield. 
 Go forth, yonr sovereign's sceptre weild!" 
 
 She beckoned the Storm-king hurriedly forth. 
 From his home in the cold frozen wave of the north ; 
 Slie lulled the bright stream to a peaceful rest, 
 With a glittering armor over its breast. 
 
 She shook white mists from the leaden clouds 
 And folded the earth in fleecy shrouds; 
 
60. 
 
 She crown 'd with jewels, dome and spire, 
 And lill-id the liearth Avith giov.'ing fire; 
 The wild wind's harp was a leafless bough, 
 The fir tree was laden Avith dust of snow. 
 
 The Monarch turned his glass again, — 
 The Wind god chanted a softer strain; 
 The ice-crowned Princess passed her wand, 
 To a fairer Sister's outstretched hand. 
 
 She passed her wand o'er the glowing hearth, 
 Melting the snow-shroud enfolding the earth; 
 With low happy cadence the wind floated by,— 
 Silver sheened uastles were reared in the sky. 
 
 The streamlet, breaking its icy chain. 
 Leaped down the hillside and over the plain; 
 Primroses gleamed beneath budding trees,— 
 The breath of violets scented the breeze. 
 
 The shv maiden, April, was dimly seen, 
 Thro' sunshine and ram-drops, her flowing gown 
 
 Daintily broidered witli gems of green, 
 Rivaling the red-bud that jeweled her crown. 
 
 Up from some beauteous southern Isle, 
 
 The child. May, came tripping; her sunny smile = 
 
 Capped the green lilac with purple plume. 
 
 And wove for the orchard its woof of bloom. 
 
 The sky lark warbled his matchless song; 
 Red-robin found his cov mate in the throng: 
 
61. 
 
 Each deft little masom went building: its nest, 
 The sweet bird-love warming its tiny breiist. 
 
 But the primrose and daflodil fade and die ; 
 
 The modest violet returns to the mold; 
 The bloom of the tulip hurries by, 
 
 In cups of crimson, andpeai'l and gold. 
 
 Oh! tarry, fair Spring, the people cried; 
 
 We love the sweet minstrels who sing in thy train; 
 We love the pure blossoms that spring at thy side ; 
 
 Our most cherished idols are set in thy Fane. 
 
 ' 'Nay my dear people, a warmer heart, 
 Must smile through the eyes of a summer queen, 
 
 Earth sighs for the strength her beams will impart. 
 To ripen the grain on its fields of green. ' ' 
 
 Again Time's punctual, tireless hand, 
 Upturned his measured glass of sand. 
 Then summer, robed in deepest green, 
 Took up the wand and crown of queen. 
 
 Clouds wreathed in pictures ever new, 
 
 Beneath a sky of azure blue ; 
 
 The sun with floods of molten gold. 
 
 Bathed the broad fields of waving grain j 
 The timid thrush, grown strangely bold. 
 
 Poured his rich notes o'er wood and plain. 
 
 The rose bush wore her gorgeous mail, 
 Sweetbriar held her shield of bloom; 
 
62. 
 
 The breezes floated dosvn the vale, 
 Freighting their Avina:s with rare perliune. 
 
 The brook, grown tired, sauntered by, 
 
 With lazy step and careless air, 
 And whispered, when he chanced to spy 
 
 A flower upon his banks, "Oh fail-, 
 Fairest of fair, come ride with me, 
 
 Toward the grand and boundless sea! 
 A moment's rest in vain I seek. 
 
 To kiss your damask-tinted cheek. ' ' 
 Thus often lured by flattering song, 
 
 The flower its mossy garden spurned. 
 And like some fair in beauty's throng 
 
 Too late its bitter wisdom learned. 
 
 The traveler fanned his heated brov,', 
 Beneath a sheltering stretch of leaves,— 
 
 Old Cereus bade the reapers mow 
 Each shed and barn with golden sheaves. 
 
 Loud thunders rent the sultry air; 
 
 The liglitning's Angers spanned the sky. 
 Touching the clouds with vivid glare, 
 
 While prisoned showers were held on high 
 
 Swift from the unfettered sky they came, 
 Watering the dry and thirsty earth; 
 
 The noontide burned with softened flame; 
 Parched grasses owned a second birth . 
 
 Once more the monarch rose and said, 
 "Come mournful queen, last of the band, 
 
63. 
 
 Rise, place the crown upon thy head, 
 And take the sceptre in thy hand." 
 
 A blight on oak and maple fell; 
 
 They changed their green for gold and brown; 
 A shrill voiced wind flew o'er the dell, 
 
 Tipping his wings with thistle down. 
 
 Among the shadows astor-bloom. 
 With pink and purple shamed the trees,— 
 
 Lady-fern sent her late perfume 
 To load the softly sighing bi-eeze. 
 
 The Princess led a sad eyed child 
 Who trilled a lay of summer time ; 
 
 Beneath her feet white clover smiled — 
 Bird voices mingled in her rhyme. 
 
 She folded in blue tissue shrouds, 
 The field and wood and distant hills, 
 
 Covered the sky with sm©ky clouds. 
 And sealed the lips of tinkling rills. 
 
 She pointed to the ripened grain , 
 The crimson fruit, the scented hay— 
 
 The toil of eai'th and sun and rain, 
 Blest handmaids of the Summer day. 
 
 * 'In God's own time, ' ' the Monarch said, 
 "The flowers bloom, the grasses grow ; 
 
 The streams from out His hand are fed, 
 And by His will the i-ivers flow. ' ' 
 
64. 
 
 ' 'He makes the sun that flames on high. 
 
 To woo the violet's modest bloom- 
 Kindles the stars that gem the sky, 
 
 And fills the rose with rare perfume. ' ' 
 
 ' 'He bids the morning bring the noon, 
 Night take her plnce by evening's side; 
 
 He changeful bids the silvery moon, 
 Throw her weird spell on wind and tide. 
 
 ' 'He hung the Earth 'mid fields of space; 
 His eyes the flight of meteors trace; 
 And yet, a tiny sijarrow's fall 
 Henot«s. The hungry raven's call, 
 The silent prayer and grateful hymn, 
 Of little child, are heard by Him, ' ' 
 
 I had my answer. The All Powerful Hand 
 Will ever rule the mute obedient land. 
 Go:l's silent work goes on from day to day, 
 As swiftly drops Time's golden chain away. 
 
 The dews of heaven, sweet sisters of the rain, 
 
 Make fresh the oasis on the dusty plain : 
 
 New islands lay their beams in mystery, 
 
 And rear their heads from out the ' 'laughing sea. ' ' 
 
 We cannot paint the fragrance of a rose, 
 
 Or bind the wing of gentlest wind that blows; 
 
 But we can make the future dark or fair. 
 
 By deeds which write their solemn liistory there . 
 
 Atd thus our hands God's silent work perform; 
 He sends the sunshine and directs the storm; 
 We sow the grain, thence come the bursting leaves: 
 The circling seasons bid us bind the sheaves. 
 
65. 
 
 niEB LAST NSGHT, 
 
 Coupled with merriest bridals, 
 
 Jostled by passing jest, 
 Over an advertisement, 
 
 A sordid place at best. 
 Little black type and paper white, 
 Say, "Died last night." 
 
 The tribute in poet's corner, 
 
 The record of hero's fame, 
 Passes the eye of the mourner. 
 
 Seeking- a dearer namej 
 The rain is falling, tnous^h skies are bright, 
 On this ' 'Died last night. ' ' 
 
 Not your name, but another, 
 
 Ownerless now on earth ; 
 Somebody sobs out "my mother"— 
 
 We join in tlie songs of mirth; 
 We are not touched by the heavy blight. 
 Though she ' 'Died last night. ' ' 
 
 A name. Not mine; but another. 
 
 Not our darling, 'tis not yet time. 
 Some sister, ©r may be some brother, 
 
 Woven in tenderest rhyme; 
 Somebody's home has lost its light, 
 By this ' 'Died last night. ' ' 
 
66. 
 
 They turn to the leaf in the Bible, 
 
 And write with a bitter pain 
 The name they gave their birdling, 
 
 Or that came with the bridal train . 
 Their love-flres kindle with sadder light, 
 Since one "Died last night." 
 
 May be the one in the attic, 
 
 Welcomed the sweet release; 
 Gave toil and pain and hunger 
 
 And life for the silent Pea«e; 
 And only the moonbeams, cold and white, 
 Saw that she ' 'Died last night. ' ' 
 
 Ever this burial and bridal, 
 
 Standing there side by side. 
 Ever our mortal footsteps 
 
 Starward and Heavenward glide, 
 For "somebody's darling" a teai'ful sight- 
 Ever this ' 'Died last night. ' ' 
 
 S^^r- 
 
Mf 67, 
 
 KESPOIV^Si TO TOE TRIBUTE OF AN 
 
 The stiHdows are falling at eventide gray, 
 The fairy clouds floating so swiftly away, 
 And soft sighing, winds, like the distant sea's 
 
 moan, 
 Are sweeping o'er paths whence the sunlight has 
 
 flown ; 
 Bearing on their pale wings, like a gem from the 
 
 mine. 
 In a beauteous casket, this "Tribute" of thine. 
 
 Unknown; yet in dreams we have often conversed, 
 Our pathways with "smiles" and "crowns" in- 
 terspersed; 
 Though strangers on earth, till the last gleam of 
 
 day 
 From the sky of our life has faded away, 
 One gem in my heart-chambers ever will shine. 
 In its own cherished casket, this "Tribute" of 
 thine. 
 
68. 
 
 THE »Air.01& BOY'S GKAVE. 
 
 The sea-nymph heai'd in her mystic flight, 
 The footfall of death in the hush of night; 
 And caroling ou in her careless mirth, 
 With a lullaby sons:, like a another of earth, 
 As she M'atches her first born peacefully rest. 
 His warm cheek pressed to her loving breast, 
 Gave the pall-bearing waves her shell paved hearth, 
 For the silent sleeper a watery berth. 
 
 The billows moan o'er the resting pla^e 
 Of the beauteous form and dead white face, 
 And bathe with kissos, damp and cold, 
 The glinting mesh of his curls of gold. 
 
 The walls of his tomb ai-e the palest green, 
 Its pictures are tinted with silvery sheen ; 
 On the floors most delicate mosses grow. 
 And above it the coi-als in silence throw, 
 With hands that nor j'ears nor ages tire, 
 In turret and dome and roof and spire. 
 The unpillared structure which rears its head. 
 Like a magic Isle from the ocean's bed. 
 
 Ye have made his grave in tlie mighty deep. 
 Where sea-gods revel and mermaids tveep; 
 But what to the spirit walking the land, 
 Beyond the unseen and changeless strand, 
 
69. 
 
 If his grave be bathed in starlight and dew, 
 
 Or his slumbers be watched by a Nereiad crew; 
 
 If his body be crumbling in earth, or arise 
 
 In the arms of the mist from the wave to the skies? 
 
 CAUGHI BY THE TIOE, 
 
 LINES SUGGESTED BY AN ENGRAVING IN THE 
 LADY'S FKIEND. 
 
 The shadows lengthened eastward upon the tempt- 
 ing shore, 
 
 And warned their straying feet to leave the pearly 
 tinted floor; 
 
 They saw not that the sun had walked far down 
 the western sky, 
 
 The shoreward flight of birds, nor heard the sea- 
 fowls threatening cry. 
 
 The harnessed hours unchained the spell that lay 
 
 upon the waves, 
 And mermaids rang the tidal bells within their 
 
 mossy caves; 
 Out from the basins of the deep with sure and rapid 
 
 stride, 
 Over the pathway by the hill came on the angry 
 
 tide. 
 
70. 
 
 Now lashing round their helpless feet, rolls n[) an- 
 other wave ; 
 
 One clasps her hanrls and looks on Death; one 
 kneels, and both are brave. 
 
 One clinging to the ragged rocks, looks o'er the 
 restless sea; 
 
 One hi:ies her face — the little one just out of iiifanc\' . 
 
 Last night her mother dandled her and sang a lul- 
 
 labv, 
 And kissed away the transient tears that gemmed 
 
 her soft blue eye ; 
 Then folded the white dimple hands upon her snowy 
 
 breast, 
 And prayed the guardian angel bands to watch her 
 
 peaceful rest. 
 
 They see the cottage on the clifl', looking so brown 
 
 and bare; 
 It looks a paradise to them— 'twere heaven to be 
 
 there . 
 The mother strains her ear to catch the patter of 
 
 their feet, 
 And ceases singing the quaint old song her husband 
 
 thinks so sweet. 
 
 The tide is up! my darlings are down along the 
 
 shore ; 
 I see the spray upon the cliff, and hear its sullen 
 
 roar! 
 Tlie tide comes up and wanes agnin : shells gather 
 
 on the strand. 
 
 '^= 
 
 •^ 
 
'-'k^ 
 
 71. W 
 
 And othpr feet tive vv^audering now over the char ye- 
 ful suiid ; 
 
 But they who loitered by the tide, now sleep on 
 
 coral beds — 
 The laughing- sea nymphs pillow moss beneath their 
 
 golden heads. 
 And now the striclien parents come and wander 
 
 side by side, 
 As if to tind" their darlings, ere the flowing of the 
 
 tide. 
 
 evs-:nbng. 
 
 The night in trailing vesture stands afar, 
 Listening to hear the last faint step of day. 
 
 And from the sky shines out her diamond star, 
 The herald of lier parltre's bright array, 
 
 On eastern hill-side and amid the trees, 
 A misty dimness seems to slowly fall; 
 
 A softened whisper weighs th3 passing breeze. 
 And shadowy hands spread down the deepniug 
 pall . 
 
 The purling brook her sweet defiance tells 
 In silvery laughter as she leaps along, 
 
 Singing alike when ring the vesper bells, 
 Or rivaling birds swell forth the matin song. 
 
72. 
 
 The hands of Sound are resting on the strings, 
 
 Tlie woof of darkness thickens over all, 
 The night hawk swoops adown Mith whirring 
 wings, 
 And through the distance sounds the cricket's 
 call . 
 
 Save these, all nature sinks to peaceful rest, 
 Obedient to the silent priestess, Night; 
 
 The earth is pillowed on her soothing breast, 
 And watched by stars that gem her crown of light. 
 
 IHE WEST. 
 
 "Spells of the past" bid their enchantment rest. 
 In pristine beauty o'er the matchless West. 
 The Sierra Nevada's crest of endless snows. 
 Is catching echoes waked from deep repose; 
 "While out and up his gray and craggy sides, 
 The iron rail with magic swiftness glides; 
 Where long the silence held her lover, Night, 
 The quartz is glimmering 'neath the miner's light; 
 The River King from chill Itasca flows, 
 And laps the shores whereon the orange grows. 
 
 Oh, wondi-ous West! how great thy fame shall be; 
 How great the germ that holds thy destiny ! 
 
73. 
 
 Thy scenery rivals all Italia' s laud, 
 Thy canyons wait a new Theiinopyla^u band; 
 Thy vineyards wait to grow a brighter wine 
 Than purples now beside the flowine: Rhine; — 
 Cascade and fountain, rock bound stream and gK n, 
 Will win the tourist I'roni the throngs olnien; 
 When first the light broke on chaotic space, 
 Thy gardens formed and took their destined place; 
 For ages here, unpressed by foot of man, 
 Thy prairies beckoned Labor's muscled clan. 
 Now thriving cities on their bosoms rise, 
 And Science prospers 'neatli Hfsperian skies. 
 
 If music once has ' 'thrilled Arcadia's sky;" 
 If poems lighted Milton's sightles,* eye; 
 If Banyan's muse defied his prison-bauds. 
 And fairer dreams crept from his fettered hands; 
 If Franklin grasped the sudden lightning's wing, 
 And bade its power our swiftest servant bring. 
 May not the West, though years admit her young. 
 Awake to themes whose strains remain unsung ? 
 
 Crush out the love of gold, Avhere Mercy weeps. 
 
 And prisoned Charity her vigil keeps. 
 
 Where the gay fashions in the fight assist, 
 
 And "deaths by conscience" weigh the purple 
 
 mist; 
 There Want, the father, moves his wrinkled hand, 
 And Sin and Shame twin-born exulting stand. 
 
 Let Truth bring crystal chalices and urn, 
 
 And let ambition in our censors burn; 
 
 Though this, sometimes, is bought with bitter price; 
 
 And followers led to glean in fields of vice. 
 
 
■vx 
 
 74. 
 
 Let reason be our iconoclast 
 
 To crush the errors of the fiiulty past; 
 
 Let Liberty but marshal here her host, 
 
 To guard our rights from north to southern coast; 
 
 Within lier bulwarks then the crashed will rise, 
 
 And progress fling her banner to the skies; 
 
 Let wisdom guide us o'er the thorny way, 
 
 That leads a nation to its perfect day. 
 
 Oh wondrous West! howgi'eat thy fame shall be, 
 
 When the swift years perfect thy destiny ! 
 
 H^re Venus' charms will make thy maidens fair, 
 
 And purest love smile on each wedded pair; 
 
 Here clear-browed joy, and wit, and dancing mirth, 
 
 Will gather from the nations of the earth; 
 
 Sorrow will wash his dim eyes in the sea, 
 
 To look on grief-forbidden "skies and thee " 
 
 Where dwell the chieftain and h is dusky throng. 
 Shall rise the artist and the child of song; 
 A Oottschalk's equal he]-e shall touch the strings, 
 And strains shall flow full sweet as Patti sings; 
 Here gem-like thought shall "fleck the poet's 
 
 tale," 
 And art I'efined o'er toil and feast prevail; 
 The drama here will stand by Virtue's side— 
 Historian genious o'er its fate preside. 
 
 Old ' 'Athens trembled" o'er a silvery lute, 
 And Spartans battle'd to the soft-toned flute. 
 We choose for heroes of the battle field, 
 Who love their country'moi'ethan^littering shield; 
 Who love more than the strains of dulcet band, 
 The cause of right and of their native laud. 
 
 ^-¥?^= 
 
75 
 
 Oh wondrous West! thy themes are yet unsung; 
 Yet this shall flow thy chorusses among, 
 As erst the angel tones whose pajns ran, 
 With "Peace on Earth, on Earth good will to 
 man." 
 
 ^ 
 
iB^nitnt^. 
 
 Gamaille Paerp :^. 
 
 PjVEXIXG 
 
 ' 25 
 
 Our AVork 
 
 " 26 
 
 Dead 
 
 • ' 27 
 
 The Poet's Dream 
 
 The New Year 
 
 " 29 
 
 Deity Woijphip 
 
 " 33 
 
 A Dream 
 
 May ... 
 
 " 34. 
 ' ' 36 
 
 Lost 
 
 ' 36 
 
 Morning 
 
 ' 3S 
 
 Human Life 
 
 " 39. 
 " 40. 
 " 42. 
 
 The Wanderer's Song 
 
 XlGIIT 
 
 Baby Sleeps 
 
 " 44 
 
 Phases op Character 
 
 The Years Glide by 
 
 Death 
 
 ' 45. 
 ' 46. 
 * 47 
 
 The Dying Y'ear 
 
 ' 48. 
 
 Quod Ayertat Deus ' 
 
 To My Husb.vnd 
 
 • 50. 
 ' 52 
 
 Happiness ... 
 
 ' 53 
 
 Scattered 
 
 ' 54. 
 
 Only' 
 
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 The Seasons 
 
 ' 57 
 
 Died Last Ntght 
 
 ' 65 
 
 Response to the Tribute of an Un- 
 known Friend 
 
 ' 67. 
 
 The Sailor Boy' s Grave ' 
 
 ' 68. 
 
 Caught by the Tide 
 
 ' 69 
 
 Evening 
 
 ' 71. 
 
 The West • 
 
 ' 72 
 
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