985 
 
 3 1 
 
 063 
 
LIBRARY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 GIKT OK 
 
 Mrs. SARAH P. WALS WORTH. 
 
 Received October, 1894. 
 Accessions No. ..9.55.30. . Class No. % 
 
 (> 
 
POEMS. 
 
 BY 
 
 C. C. GOODWIN 
 
 MARYSVILLE. 
 
 PRINTED AT THE HERALD OFFICE. 
 
 i SSf; 
 
DEDICATION. 
 
 MY BROTHER JESSE. 
 
 Thou who has borne so many cares for me, 
 
 So many cares and all so cheerfully ; 
 
 Thou who hast watched, and o er my pillow hung, 
 
 When fell disease my suffering body wrung ; 
 
 Thou who hast counseled uie in hours of need, 
 
 And given to all my fault s so little heed ; 
 
 Thou who hast been brother, companion, friend; 
 
 Yea more, almost a second parent, too ; 
 
 Here these, some broken measures, I have penned, 
 
 An offering poor, I dedicate to you. 
 
 It s measures rude, were strung in dreamy hours, 
 
 Hours when the world was dancing in its glee, 
 
 And the highest motive to excite my powers 
 
 Has been the hope some thought herein might be 
 
 Welcome in some lone hours of thine, to thee ; 
 
 And should the world, the cold unfeeling mass, 
 
 Proclaim it soulless all, I would not heed, 
 
 If o er its failings thou could st careless pass, 
 
 And prize the honest will, if not the deed. 
 
 But I will cease this now too prosy start, 
 
 And dedicate it thine with all my heart. 
 
 C. C, G. 
 
 95; 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 MINNIE MONTGOMERY. LINES WRITTEN AFTER ATTENDING 
 
 A DAY DREAM. MRS. EMMA WALLER 3 CONCERT. 
 
 MY SISTER. ESTELLE POTTER. 
 
 NEW YEAR, (1856) MATILDA HERON, 
 
 FOURTH OP JULY, (1855) WANDERINGS AND DREAMINGS. 
 
 THE MEMORY OF A BELOVED SISTER: A DREAM. 
 
MINNIE MONTGOMERY, 
 
 CANTO, I. 
 
 i. 
 Ye spirits, who have haunted all my dreams 
 
 Since childhood s morn, come and support me now ; 
 Come hover round me, and with living streams 
 
 Of gushing fancy, bathe my aching brow! 
 
 ii. 
 Come, as thou dost in midnight dreams appear, 
 
 With burning eyes and robes like morning light ; 
 Come chant thy music in my eager ear, 
 
 And help me on this waiting page indite 
 
 in. 
 A simple ballad not a song of love, 
 
 No thrilling romance filled with wondrous deeds 
 Of peril, and of sacrifice to move 
 
 The pulses and the soul of him who reads. 
 
 IV. 
 
 But an unpolished, simple tale of life ; 
 
 Life as we used to meet it here of yore, 
 When men first sought this land with treasure rife, 
 
 And named it U E1 Dorado, " fair, vile shore. 
 
MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 
 V. 
 
 Evening o er San Francisco hung her mantle gemm d with stars; 
 They glistened on the dusky sky, like pitying Angel s tears ; 
 The solemn moon in splendor, midst attending planets rode, 
 And seemed in all her lovliness a chariot of God; 
 Rolling to shower our darkened earth with floods of silver rays, 
 That haply hardened hearts might melt as it caught man s wand ring 
 gaze. 
 
 VI. 
 
 It was an eve of beauty, such as Californians see 
 
 When Autumn s breeze doth kiss the plains, and murmurs in the 
 
 tree ; 
 
 When the great sun neath the ocean a mass of fire is hurled, 
 And shine the cooler lights of Heaven to gild our slumb ring 
 
 world ; 
 
 In those climes of blissful softness which on Pacific lie, 
 Where for half the sunny year scarce a cloud floats o er the sky; 
 It was a night of beauty, and of sweetness fit to wean 
 From earth and its hilarities, the turbid hearts of men ; 
 To turn them from the cares and frivolities below, 
 Up to that bright world whose people, no cares or follies know ; 
 To soften and to gladden, to subdue the human heart, 
 That man might weary of his sins, and from his bands depart. 
 
 VII. 
 
 Twas on such an Autumn evening, a young man sat alone ; 
 
 His hair in raven masses from his lofty brow was thrown, 
 
 His dark stern eyes in splendor beam d those windows of the 
 
 mind 
 His lips were close compressed, neath the beard that round them 
 
 twined, 
 
MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 9 
 
 On his breast a diamond glittered, a massy gem and rare, 
 
 And he sat in his magnificence, alone a millionaire ; 
 
 A millionaire in San Francisco, in riches and in pride ; 
 
 In his luxuriant rooms he sat from all the world aside, 
 
 Holding stern and still communion with his deep and secret mind, 
 
 As if there some mighty problem s solution he would find. 
 
 YIII. 
 
 He was gazing on a letter, which trembled in his hand, 
 And troubled seemed his features as the message fair he scanned; 
 " She is coming then, my Minnie, she will no longer wait, 
 Her soul is pure as Mercy s tear, her love is fixed as Fate." 
 He murmured low, and turned again to read the message fair, 
 Written with a modest grace, such as comes from talent rare. 
 
 Beads 
 
 Dearest husband! we ve been parted for three years almost now, 
 And oh ! the weary days and hours have passed away so slow ; 
 They would have been but misery had not our darling child 
 Brought back thy image to my heart, whene er he playful smiled; 
 Aye, he is a little cherub, your own proud, noble face 
 Is but his own reflected through a microscopic glass ; 
 I have lavished all my love on him have taught him your dear 
 
 name, 
 
 And though a lisping infant still, he says "Papa" quite plain. 
 With him, our little treasure, I have passed the weary hours, 
 While ever and anon, as upon the dry earth showers 
 Bring forth the withering verdure and make the frail flowers 
 
 bloom, 
 
 So, on the desert of my heart your welcome letters come, 
 Assuring me in every line your heart still beats for me, 
 Though virtue holds so frail a seat there far beyond the sea ; 
 
10 MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 
 
 And now, my friends consenting, on the next ship I will sail, 
 In your California home to share your sorrows and your weal. 
 
 IX. 
 
 As the proud man closed the letter, he rose and paced the room ; 
 The dull light of the lamp reflected back a gorgeous gloom ; 
 One hand still clutched the letter, one his marble forehead pressed, 
 While the gleam within his dark eye, proclaimed his soul s unrest, 
 And he pensive walked his chamber with faltering step and slow, 
 As if upon his manly heart there hung a weight of woe. 
 At last he murmured to himself: "And is she coming then? 
 Yes ! none but her fair hand can write with such a graceful pen, 
 None but a heart of purity like that within her breast 
 Can frame such words of goodness as are in those lines expressed. 
 And can I who have so wronged her, look in her face again, 
 Without revealing all my guilt in characters so plain, 
 That she, though unsuspecting, still can read my inmost soul, 
 And know of all the secret deeds that out my memory roll, 
 And mark the deep and burning shame that sears my guilty brow. 
 I seem to hear her angel lips reproach me even now, 
 For I have been for many months a hypocrite so vile, 
 Forgetting all the mighty ties that bound my soul the while ; 
 Have abused the generous confidence she bestowed on me, 
 And to another idol I have bowed a shameful knee ; 
 Have worshiped at a wanton s feet, and given the love away 
 That should have been my matchless wife s to a base piece of clay; 
 To one as far neath Minnie in purity of heart, 
 Or all that s grand of intellect that higher, nobler part ; 
 As is some secret cavern s depths, where wild beasts congregate, 
 Where serpents crawl at noonday, where the grim wolf calls his 
 mate, 
 
MINNIE MONTGOMERY. II 
 
 Beneath the eagle s eyre on the ever verdant pine, 
 Blooming where everlasting snows the mountain s brows entwine. 
 And as she says, I ve written letters full of words of love, 
 Such as we used to whisper when the twilight from above 
 Closed around our cottage duskily, beneath the old elm tree, 
 While Susquehanna at our feet, rolled murmuring to the sea, 
 Where we lived so long and happy, where our fair child was born, 
 Where my girl-bride changed to woman, without one sweet charm 
 
 torn, 
 Where life s stream rolled so smoothly, till this thirst for riches 
 
 came, 
 And burned through all my being, as through parchment blazes 
 
 flame ; 
 
 Then I left my blessed treasure my precious wife and child 
 To seek for sordid dross, midst hills and canons wild. 
 Well, there s but one path now to tread I ll call on Lady Gray, 
 Declare our secret love, and sin is ended from to-day. 
 Then prepare a mansion worthy to greet my bonny bride, 
 And with my constant love from hence my former faults will hide." 
 Saying this he left the room, but with hesitating look, 
 As though contending feelings all his strength of purpose shook. 
 
 x. 
 
 Clay Montgomery, in his childhood, had felt the icy hand 
 Of poverty upon him, like a mighty moveless band. 
 Born destitute of heritage, except a glorious mind, 
 Which trials and privations early widened and refined, 
 While yet almost in boyhood, he had learned the healing art, 
 And was allowed, with honors rare, and titles, to depart 
 From college, where his energy alone had given him place, 
 
12 MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 
 
 And which his master intellect had crowned with so much grace. 
 He sought to prove his calling then, and paused where, towards 
 
 the sea, 
 
 Midst banks of softest verdure, rushes downward, cool and free, 
 Old Susquehanna, in his strength, and deep perpetual flow, 
 Murmuring like the summer breeze when at evening it doth blow. 
 There he met with Minnie Morgan, and struck with her sweet face, 
 To her ways of modest gentleness, her form of matchless grace, 
 And her wondrous abilities, his heart a captive beat ; 
 And he kneeled with his affections, a suppliant at her feet. 
 She took his hand and kneeled by him, and the sweet lingering 
 
 kiss, 
 
 Sealed lips and hearts and souls, in chains of extaey and bliss. 
 They were wedded, and for three years they lived in perfect joy, 
 Their love was pure as angels , untainted by alloy ; 
 They lived as God s best creatures live as should dwell wedded 
 
 love 
 
 A little archetype of life, like that that s passed above, 
 Where holy love and happiness go wandering hand in hand ; 
 The leaders and the brighter pair of all that august band 
 That throng the bowers of Paradise, or guard the sacred wall 
 Which bounds the "New Jerusalem" that vast reception hall, 
 Which the Ete rnal prepared for the nations that were just, 
 Where the wearied spirit hastens when released from crumbling 
 
 dust 
 
 XI. 
 
 But when from California first the golden voice did speak, 
 So luring to the young, but brave, their fortunes there to seek, 
 Montgomery heard the witching notes and when at night he slept, 
 Visions of strange magnificence across his slumbers swept. 
 
MINNIE MONTQOMEKT, IS 
 
 He dreamed of rivers rolling over jewels to the main ; 
 He dreamed of diamonds glittering in mountain and in plain ; 
 E en the sands beneath his footsteps were radiant with gems, 
 And gold shone where ne er wandered the bright sun s noonday 
 
 beams. 
 He stretched his eager hand toward it, with shining dust twas 
 
 filled, 
 
 And then he wakened from his dream with all his pulses thrilled ; 
 Once more he slept, but visions on their airy chargers sped ; 
 He saw their shining garments, as through dreamland on they fled; 
 He sought his early home again, he built a mansion high, 
 From off its royal battlements he watched the starry sky, 
 And heard anon soft music in sweetest numbers fall, 
 Echoing neath the sculptured arch, and down the marble hall; 
 He gathered grand old paintings there from Europe s classic shores, 
 Her cities of luxuriance, her palaces and towers, 
 Those shrines of inspiration, so sublime and so august ; 
 Saved, midst the wreck of ages, from Time s corroding rust ; 
 Rare flowers were blooming round him, and clear, cool fountains 
 
 played, 
 
 His herds were basking in the sun, his vision fair portrayed 
 A kingly wealth and splendor, and twas he possessed it all, 
 The fair domain, the flocks and herds, the garden and the hall. 
 Tken, waking from such dreams, he would survey his humble home, 
 Till the bright smile left his eye, and his brow grew dark in gloom. 
 At length he told his gentle wife the longing of his heart, 
 And begged brief leave of absence, from her presence to depart. 
 At first she wept for long hours, but as she had ever done, 
 At length she yielded to his wish that was her law alone. 
 Then on a sunny April morn, he kissed a soft adieu 
 
14 MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 
 
 On their infant, in its cradle, and then he wildly drew 
 His Minnie to his bosom, in a sad but fond embrace ; 
 Gazed tenderly a moment on her anguished, tearful face, 
 Pressed a last kiss on her pale lips, while his faltering tongue, 
 As he murmured " Good bye, Minnie," told how his heart was 
 wrung. 
 
 XII. 
 
 Of his journey we shall speak anon at present let us trace 
 Him from his princely chamber to a quiet secret place. 
 In fancy we will enter and behold yon lady fair, 
 Who approaches to greet him with such a queenly air. 
 Her slender hand she holds toward him; how flash her raven eyes, 
 How sweet the smile of welcome that along each feature flies ; 
 Her polished brow, how straight and fair her perfect form so tall, 
 Those waves of jetty tresses, how they o er her bared neck fall; 
 In garments rich, voluptuous, with gems all sparkling o er, 
 She stands with hand extended, with one small foot placed before, 
 As beautiful as young Love s dream, enrapturing as Love, 
 When fervent passion thrills the brain, and youth the pulse doth 
 move. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 But if we approach more nearly we shall discover there, 
 
 That though that form is sylph-like, and those features passing fair, 
 
 There is yet a something wanting that modest gentleness, 
 
 Without which woman is a thing too hideous to express, 
 
 And though those eyes beam darkly bright, they lack the glorious 
 
 ray 
 Which beams when stainless virtue, over passion holds its sway. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 Such were the superficial charms of haughty Frances Gray, 
 
MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 15 
 
 Who, shame to tell, had turned aside the noble heart of Clay; 
 The one whom he had come to see, his guilty bands to sever; 
 To break the toils that bound him to separate for ever ; 
 For his heart within his bosom was beating right once more, 
 His Minnie in her beauty to his fancy rose before, 
 He thought of all her loveliness, the gifted gentle one 
 Who woke his first affections, who he knew was still his own ; 
 Though he had wandered far away he knew her heart was true, 
 For like a mount, whose high pure brow the heav ns conceal from 
 
 view, 
 
 Is woman s faith, when she doth love with all her glorious soul, 
 Howe er unworthy be the theme on which that love doth fall ; 
 *Tis like the beauteous evergreen, which blooms as bright when 
 
 snow 
 
 Is drifting round its strong roots, as when o er it flowers grow ; 
 But man, midst the temptations and the conflicts of the world, 
 From virtue s and from duty s height a felon oft is hurled. 
 Start not, ye fond and trusting, while I whisper in your ears, 
 A tale to make your warm hearts beat, your eyes to swim in tears, 
 Of all the men who came away and left their wives behind, 
 A fortune on the golden shores of this fair land to find, 
 Not half returned again to theirs, untainted, sinless, pure, 
 For sin here tunes her sweetest lyre, unwary souls to lure. 
 
 xv. 
 
 Frances broke the silence "I am glad that you have come 
 Once more my dear Montgomery, to my lone quiet home ; 
 I wearied much in waiting for you since you went away; 
 Come nearer, let me gaze on you, dear, noble, handsome Clay." 
 But he stop d her forward movement, and firmly, slowly said : 
 " Frances, it is a fearful gulph o er which our footsteps tread, 
 
16 MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 
 
 Dear friend, we must forget the past, ere by the world we re seen, 
 We must trace back the path we ve trod, ere virtue be our friend; 
 Nay, speak not yet, fair erring child, but ask your heart if you 
 Are happy now as when that heart no guile nor wandering knew; 
 Dost thou in dreams at midnight now feel peaceful and secure, 
 As when but for your husband s love your heart heaved fond and 
 
 pure ? 
 Frances ! think of your nuptial vow, of the hour when you must 
 
 die, 
 
 When alas ! earth s days of pleasure shall darken in your eye, 
 Then promise if a loving look I e er bestow on thee 
 Thou lt spurn me from thee like a reptile hideous to see." 
 
 XVI. 
 
 " Why Montgomery," said the frail one, "what is the matter 
 
 now? 
 
 What clouds with such a gloominess your ever sunny brow, 
 And makes your looks as solemn as were on yester eve 
 The priest s, who for our errors so sorrowfully did grieve ? 
 He talked of holy mountains, of Jordan s sluggish wave, 
 Which rolls its waters to that sea which is the dreadful grave, 
 Of those cities of unrighteousness which scoffed and mocked at 
 
 God, 
 
 Till He smote them in His vengeance with his all consuming rod ; 
 And he talked besides of Solomon, the fair and noble child, 
 Who grew up to a manhood so licentious and so wild ; 
 Then when his years were waning, and life unloosed its hold, 
 He clung again to virtue, as his passions all grew cold ; 
 Just so my dear Montgomery, grow virtuous by and by, 
 When age shall wrinkle your proud face and dim your eagle eye; 
 
MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 17 
 
 Oh! if you look thus solemn but to give me greater joy, 
 When again you smile upon me, pray do no longer toy ; 
 Montgomery ! dear Montgomery ! to speak thy name is bliss, 
 Come to my arms and give me, for my own, thy wonted kiss. 
 
 XVII. 
 
 But he started quickly backward, and answered sad and stern, 
 (While his lightning eye upon her did fixed and sorrowing turn,) 
 " Stop! ne er again those ruby lips with mine in love shall meet; 
 Altough they are as tempting, as enrapturingly sweet, 
 As was the rich forbidden fruit that in Eden blushing grew, 
 Which our first parents pluck d and ate, and thus a world o er- 
 
 threw. 
 
 I came to say " good bye," to-night, my heart feels not like mirth, 
 For we must meet together as only friends henceforth. 
 But Frank, he added mildly,. I wished not to offend; 
 Here is a letter, read it, and then my fairest friend, 
 You will perceive a reason why we so soon must part, 
 And rend all these affections sweet that bind us heart with heart." 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 Frances seized the letter quickly, and as she read, a tear 
 Seemed bursting from her fierce eye as she scanned the message 
 
 near ; 
 
 But she checked it in a moment, and calmly said, "so Clay, 
 This wife is coming, is she ? even now, is on the way. 
 I fancy, tis all for the best ; the war in Oregon, 
 Where my husband is commanding, will doubtless soon be done, 
 And then he will return for sure he loves me, and his life 
 He would without a murmur lose, to save his wicked wife ; 
 
 But he has a spirit jealous, and a weapon keen and strong, 
 2 
 
lg MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 
 
 And his fierce arm loves to wield it to wipe away a wrong ; 
 And should he find you filling, Clay, his place here in my arms, 
 I would tremble for the issue, as I love your many charms. 
 Tis well that we should separate ere some too greedy ear, 
 Should in some fatal moment a trifling word o erhear, 
 And all the dreadful story of our love and sin proclaim. 
 How would our envious friends rejoice to herald forth our shame, 
 While their thoughts are just as evil, their heart-throbs just as 
 
 vile, 
 
 Should some sweet opportunity their eager souls beguile. 
 Farewell ! and if we meet again, may all within each breast 
 Be pure as seems yon harvest moon in robes of azure dressed." 
 
 XIX. 
 
 She spoke with a strange carelessness, in mingled scorn and ire, 
 But when Montgomery, toward the door did silently retire, 
 The memory of her love came back and with woman s tenderness, 
 His neck her snowy arms entwined in a sweet and wild caress, 
 And she murmured, "Dear Montgomery, give me one kiss I pray, 
 One pledge of all our friendship past, then you may go away." 
 Slowly he unloosed himself from her passionate embrace, 
 And turned his fixed look steadily upon her pallid face ; 
 Strange sight it was, their dark eyes beaming on each other there, 
 Their forms drawn to their proudest height, majestic, graceful, 
 
 fair; 
 
 Her bosom heaved, like ocean, when a tempest o er it sweeps, 
 He quivered like a mountain, when an earthquake, neath it creeps; 
 Twas a picture for a sculptor or painter to behold, 
 Those creatures in their splendor could they be of human mould ? 
 Oh ! had their hearts been pure, as were their forms and features 
 
 fair, 
 
MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 19 
 
 They would have been all ready to mount the heights of air, 
 To join those shining legions that people Heaven s towers, 
 Where virtue needs no sentinels to guard her sacred bowers. 
 
 xx. 
 
 Thus they on each other gazed, till in Frances eye a tear 
 Shone, as in some stormy midnight shines on the sky, a star, 
 Which Montgomery perceiving, his arm he round her flung, 
 And their warm lips to each other in a kiss of rapture clung ; 
 He whispered, "Farewell now, as cools that kiss upon thy lip, 
 Remember that this guilty cup we must no longer sip." 
 Saying this he left her parlor fair, while like a statue still 
 She listened, while his footsteps on the side-walk fainter fell, 
 And when the last sound died away, she ?unk upon the floor 
 And wept as though the fountains of her heart were running o er. 
 At length, her feelings mastering, she rose from where she lay, 
 And with her glossy ringlets, wiped the burning tears away ; 
 And then she murmured sadly, "Fool ! oh fool that I have been! 
 I might have known this hour would come, this hour of shame 
 
 and sin ; 
 
 I might have known long months ere this that he would go away 
 And leave me in my helplessness, to my remorse a prey ; 
 Yes, leave me full of sorrow, wrapped in shame and wounded 
 
 pride, 
 
 And fear, the soul doth ever feel when virtue leaves its side ; 
 Still, who could resist temptation, when clothed in such attire ? 
 That voice of inspirations deep, that glance of living fire, 
 Those eyes of melting tenderness when they beamed down in love, 
 And that brow, the throne of genius, all common minds above, 
 Expression s chosen dwelling place, and beauty s fairest seat, 
 
 
20 MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 
 
 And not the least, those honeyed words, so fascinating sweet ; 
 They stole all my affections, as the south winds steal the snow, 
 When in spring they breathe all genial upon the mountain s brow, 
 Softening their cold, pure banks, until they melt and downward 
 
 glide, 
 
 Mixing with earth s pollutions foul upon the mountain side, 
 Till at length along the vale a dark mass it on doth roam, 
 Nor knows of peace or quiet till it finds its ocean home ; 
 Thus did his words and soft caresses steal away my heart, 
 Till it throbs within my bosom as though its strings would part, 
 And it must ever throb and beat, till it findeth in the grave 
 That rest it now so wildly and so helplessly doth crave ; 
 Tis true, I have a husband, and the world s mouth calls him great; 
 He s an honor to his country, a bulwark to the State, 
 And many a friend rejoiced with me upon my bridal day, 
 Saying how fortunate I was to wed proud Allen Gray. 
 Ah, me ! who knows the secret heart ? He met me a weak maid, 
 I saw him in his uniforn, in gold and gems arrayed, 
 He wooed me, and bewildered, I thought I loved him well, 
 My eyes were dazzled by the beams that from his titles fell ; 
 But when, alas ! the first few days of wedded joy were past, 
 There grew a void within my* heart, so sad, and cold, and vast, 
 That all my husband s love could never cheer, or warm, or fill, 
 Though his form doth captivate the eye, his voice the ear doth 
 
 thrill ; 
 
 Twas then, that he was called away in the wilderness to war, 
 Then glory s magic trumpet led him from my side afar ; 
 He left me in the city, where temptations most abound, 
 Where the songs of evil syrens ever sweetly sound; 
 He left me, and the weary hours rolled by so sad and drear; 
 
MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 21 
 
 Twas then Montgomery s honeyed words first fell upon my ear ; 
 
 Twas then I felt his glance of fire first beaming down on me 
 
 Till my heart beat in my bosom as tempests beat the sea, 
 
 Till all my vows of faithfulness to the vain winds were tossed, 
 
 And enraptured and magnetized, I yielded and was lost. 
 
 Oh! what a love I then gave him, sinful though it maybe, 
 
 It was a love as vast as space in its immensity, 
 
 As fervent as eternal fires in its intensity, 
 
 As high as Heaven s star spangled arch, as deep as ocean s bed, 
 
 Sweeter than e er was young hope s dream, through beauty s fair 
 
 field led. 
 
 What could I not have suffered to Itave wandered by his side ? 
 How willingly for his dear sake could I have bowed and died; 
 How patiently could I have watched by him in grief and joy, 
 For he was perfect, and the world beside was all alloy ; 
 And now he comes to me to-night and says that we must part, 
 As cool, as though the chords which bind a loving woman s heart 
 Were made of common hemp, and could at will be rent or tied; 
 But thanks, indeed, a thousand thanks, to my unconquered pride, 
 He did not triumph o er me, though his words stung through my 
 
 soul, 
 
 And did o er all my being in seas of sorrow roll ; 
 He thinks that I am satisfied aye, he shall surely know 
 That man must reap the whirlwind dire, when he the wind doth 
 
 sow, 
 
 That in a woman s bosom, next unto her boundless love, 
 Revenge, black, fierce and dreadful, stands her passions all above." 
 
 XXI. 
 
 As she spoke her eyes dilated, her hands and lips did close, 
 As if her mind in labour wrung was anguished by its throes ; 
 
22 MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 
 
 For in her heart a purpose was that hour conceived and born. 
 As she conjured up the dark thoughts, her thin lips curled in 
 
 scorn, 
 
 Her perfect form expanded to its fullest, proudest height, 
 The veins upon her snowy neck shone azure in the light, 
 Her clench d hand trembled o er her head, her bosom heaved and 
 
 fell, 
 
 And her cheeks convulsed by passion, grew alternate red and pale, 
 And she walked from the apartment with firm and haughty stride, 
 As though she led the way, o er a banquet to preside. 
 With every sweet charm heightened into grand and full display, 
 She seemed not like a wanton, fleeing from her sins away, 
 But with a grace and dignity, that might a queen adorn, 
 As she walked before her subjects on Coronation morn. 
 
CANTO II. 
 i. 
 
 Twas morn in San Francisco Montgomery was alone 
 In a mansion he prepared,, when he knew his wife would come ; 
 Twas palace-like in richness, and his dark eyes gleamed in pride, 
 As he gazed upon the splendors that glowed on every side. 
 "It is superb ! tis beautiful!" he said "what a surprise 
 I have for my sweet Minnie ; I will dazzle her bright eyes ; 
 For she knows not of my wealth, and she thinks to find me now, 
 In coarse and dusky garments clad, with burning, aching brow ; 
 For years I had no treasure but her loving heart ; her smile 
 And winning words were joys to feast my weary soul the while ; 
 Oh ! will I not be happy here, upon this western shore ? 
 But stop there s Frances image standing fancy s eye before ; 
 Tis true that I have wronged her ; much I feared that parting 
 
 scene ; 
 
 But twas time we should our hearts from unholy pleasures wean ; 
 And yet, methinks one smothered look of passion I did trace, 
 As it swept in wrath, and grief,, and gloom, across her scornful 
 
 face. 
 
 She cares not ; her haughty eye looks just as boldly up, 
 As if her lips had ever drank from Virtue s stainless cup." 
 
24 
 
 MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 
 
 II. 
 
 " And now, nay throbbing heart, be calm, and let your every beat 
 Be for the radiant being that first with scepter sweet, 
 Subdued you with her gentleness, and won your early love, 
 And who, compared with other wives, is peerless, all above. 
 Oh ! what fond days, and weeks, and months, we ll pass together 
 
 here; 
 
 My wealth shall heighten every smile, shall drive away each fear ; 
 The mountains and the rivers, and the islands of the deep, 
 Shall their hidden gems bring forth, from the dark caves where 
 
 they sleep ; 
 
 The sunny tropic s cooling fruits shall kiss her heated lip, 
 And o er the dreadful ocean shall career the stately ship, 
 To bring to her the luxuries that bloom in other lands, 
 
 Where flowery summer binds the earth with everlasting bands. 
 
 My wife, my precious wife and child, henceforth the world to me, 
 
 I long to rest one on my breast, and one upon my knee. 
 
 Blow ye propitious breezes, ye strong enginery, speed on 
 
 The lordly palace of the seas, that bears my jewels home. 
 
 But wherefore is that rumbling? Hark! it comes up from the Bay. 
 
 By heavens ! It is the steamer, pounding thro the foam and spray. 
 
 Tis drawing nearer ; see ! for joy ! it is the Golden Gate, 
 
 That ship that ever brings to port all safe its precious freignt ; 
 
 That ship that climbs the billows, as the eagle climbs the air, 
 
 When with bold eye on the mountain, he soars away afar ; 
 
 That ship that rides the ocean vast, as o er some stormy cloud, 
 
 The midnight thunder rushes with its trumpet voice aloud. 
 
 But wait ; if I thus haste to her, her little strength will fail ; 
 
 She would faint with the excitement, her poor nerves are so frail ; 
 
 I have a thought now I am not the Clay Montgomery 
 
MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 25 
 
 I was, while toiling o er the hills and vales, beyond the sea. 
 Oh ! thanks to California s hand, to give to a poor slave, 
 A fortune kings might justly *prize, and princes vainly crave. 
 She will not know the bearded face, o.r this apparel fair, 
 She hardly thinks to find her Clay almost a millionaire." 
 
 in. 
 
 Saying this, beneath a broad hat he hid his polished brow, 
 His cloak in many ample folds did from his shoulders flow, 
 As he left the splendid mansion, and wended swift his way, 
 Where the steamer by the wharf, like a sleeping monster lay. 
 
 IV. 
 
 The stern commander welcomed him, saying "Montgomery, 
 
 There is a very angel in the ship, awaiting thee ; 
 
 Come with me to the cabin." But Clay whispered in his ear 
 
 The plan he had for meeting, unknown, his Minnie fair. 
 
 " Tis a good thought," said the master, "she was ill upon the sea, 
 
 And perhaps her nerves might fail, should she know you suddenly." 
 
 Saying this, they went together to the beautiful saloon ; 
 
 The captain called a page, and said, " I leave my vessel soon, 
 
 Go you to yonder state-room door, salute the lady there, 
 
 And tell her a friend sincere would like to say Good-bye to her." 
 
 The servant did as ordered, and ere long returned again, 
 
 Followed closely by a lady in sable robes and plain. 
 
 As Montgomery spied her pale face, his heart seemed stopping 
 
 still, 
 
 And he trembled in his footsteps, despite his mighty will. 
 The Captain spoke : 
 
 " Dear lady, you must know we mariners 
 Are a rude, boisterous race of men, at best but honest tars ; 
 
MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 
 
 I wished to say farewell, and may your future moments glide, 
 As peaceful as my goodly ship rides o er a placid tide. 
 May sorrow s bitter billows ne er round your life-bark pour, 
 May your cup of joy be ever full, upon this western shore." 
 
 Oh! thanks, a thousand heartfelt thanks, brave Captain, she replied, 
 
 " Your kindness to me on this voyage my heart has justly weighed, 
 
 And if its boundless gratitude can in the least repay 
 
 The debt I owe to you, tis thine ; meanwhile I humbly pray, 
 
 That if we ne er together sail on the rough sea below, 
 
 Our souls may find a haven by that stream whose placid flow 
 
 Glideth softly from the white Throne down thro the golden streets, 
 
 Beneath the ever-blooming trees, beside the heavenly seats 
 
 Of Angel and Archangel, where endless they accord, 
 
 With harp and voice, the honor that is due their King and Lord. 
 
 There may our tired lives at last by gentle zephyrs driven. 
 
 Moor safe by the Pacific wharf, in the still bay of heaven." 
 
 VI. 
 
 As spoke the gentle woman thus, the strong man brushed a tear 
 From his sun-browned cheeks, for such words sounded strangely 
 
 in his ear. 
 Perhaps some scene of childhood rushed that moment o er his 
 
 brain, 
 
 May be to him those soft words seemed a mother s voice again. 
 And he spoke with deepest feeling " I cannot now express 
 How much I thank you for those words of holy tenderness ; 
 I ll recall them at midnight, when alone upon the wave, 
 When around me seas are breaking, and tempests shriek and rave, 
 When my strong ship neath me trembles, midst elemental strife, 
 
MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 27 
 
 I ll recall your rapturous picture of the clear stream of life, 
 And I ll trust amidst the surgings of tempest and of flood, 
 Your sweet prayer is accepted in the awful book of God." 
 Then stilling his emotions deep, cheerful, at length he said, 
 " Lady, this morn your husband a little sickness had, 
 So asked this gentleman, his friend, (bowing the while to Clay,) 
 To bear you to his dwelling ; fare you well ; I must away." 
 
 VII. 
 
 At mention of her husband s name, a wild thrill tinged her cheek, 
 She clasped her hands upon her heart, her lips refused to speak ; 
 A tear shone in the azure eye, her tall form bent and shook, 
 And she gave the man before her a supplicating look ; 
 At length she said, " kind stranger, relieve my suffering brain, 
 What know you of my husband ? Oh !" Clay answered frank 
 
 and plain. 
 
 " I know him well, scarce an hour since I left his bright fire-side, 
 He is waiting to embrace you, whom he calls his joy and pride ; 
 His nerves are all unstrung this morn, he wished for me to come 
 To meet you at the steamer, to conduct you to his home." 
 
 VIII. 
 
 He spoke with a frank, candid tone, which drove way her fears, 
 And she thanked him with an earnest look, smiling through her 
 
 tears; 
 
 To prepare her for the journey, she hastened quick away, 
 With a bounding, elastic heart, and footsteps light and gay. 
 
 IX. 
 
 As ehe turned away he muttered, "what means her pallid face ? 
 Whence are those looks of suffering, the eye so quick doth trace ? 
 What mean her robes of sable ? Where is my boy, my child ? 
 Alas ! with sad forebodings now, my anxious heart throbs wild. 
 
28 MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 
 
 X. 
 
 The Captain paused a moment, ere he went upon the deck, 
 And gazing back upon the two, as to himself, did speak, 
 "I had not the heart to tell him, his child died on the sea ; 
 Her sable robes explain it yet how beautiful is she ; 
 God protect her in this country, and may her beauty here, 
 Ne er bring a pang to sting her heart, nor to her eye a tear. 
 
 The lady soon returned and took Montgomery s proffered arm; 
 He trembled, for that gentle touch had all its former charm; 
 As they left the dusky steamer, she gave a lingering look 
 Back on its fine proportions, as it rested by the dock ; 
 Then entering a carriage rich, they whirled along the street, 
 And paused before a mansion, proud as an Earl s retreat. 
 They traversed up the winding path, and through the open door, 
 And entering a gorgeous room, Montgomery s heart ran o er ; 
 And clasping in his rapture his beloved one to his heart, 
 " Welcome," he cried, " my Minnie, we meet no more to part." 
 Both his hat and mantle falling, revealed his form and brow, 
 And her quick eye, in happiness, beheld her husband now. 
 Twas a cup too full of rapture, and with a joyful shriek 
 She fainted, while his full heart throbbed neath her ashen cheek. 
 With looks of melting tenderness, he gazed on her pale face ; 
 " Ah, me !" said he, " to feel thee thus, once more in my embrace, 
 Such rapture sweet, such happiness what mortal ever knew? 
 Oh ! Minnie, ope those eyes of love, and change that pallid hue 
 That broodeth o er thy features, to that crimson rose-like glow 
 That used to mantle with such grace, thy queenly pearl-like brow. 
 
MINNIE MONTGOMERY, 2if 
 
 XII. 
 
 At length the blue eyes opened slow y and wildly stared, on Clay, 
 With looks of mingled joy and grief, of pleasure, yet dismay ; 
 " Oh! husband, is it true?" she cried, "Are you then what you 
 
 seem? 
 
 Or has some pitying angel sent to me this heavenly dream ? 
 Are you then flesh and blood, or am I in the spirit land ? 
 Aye, surely I am not deceived, this is no spirit s hand, 
 Tis one you gave me long ago, far back beyond the sea, 
 Neath the branches of the great Elm, that old majestic tree ; 
 Kememberest thou, dear husband, that happy, holy hour 
 Our souls were blent together there by loves enchanting power ; 
 The stars looked down approvingly, those lamps of God on high, 
 And the breezes seemed to listen as their murmuring hosts swept 
 
 by; 
 
 Around us slept the quiet earth upon that joyful even, 
 And o er us shone the gorgeous worlds that throng the fields of 
 
 Heaven." 
 
 XIII. 
 
 As she spoke they clasped each other, and a sweet lingering kiss, 
 Sealed the last word on her glowing lips in transport and in bliss, 
 And their hearts gainst each other throbbed, in love s delightful 
 
 beat, 
 
 Twas a moment of enjoyment, intense, and rare, and sweet. 
 She spoke again, 
 
 "But what means all this glitter this display; 
 This splendid furniture I see, and thine apparel, Clay ?" 
 He answered, 
 
 <! Tell me, Minnie, first what means thy pallid face, 
 Thy sombre garments, and the pangs of suffering I trace 
 
30 MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 
 
 Upon thy queenly brow, within thy sunken cheek and eye ? 
 Where is our fair child? Minnie, dear I have not heard you say." 
 A tear stole from her sad eye, and she said : 
 
 " Alas ! his doom ! 
 
 He died at sea ; a cavern of the ocean is his tomb." 
 A shudder cold, the strong man shook, his sunbrowned cheek 
 
 grew pale, 
 And sinking to a seat, he said: 
 
 "What is the horrid tale? 
 
 Come, sit down here beside me ; come, my poor afflicted one, 
 Alas! that I had died for him, my precious, only son." 
 And hot tears, despite his firmness, were blinding either eye, 
 As he gently drew her to his side on the soft settee. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 At first she could not answer ; the memory of her woe, 
 
 In a sea of crushing sorrow did o er her break and flow ; 
 
 At length her tears subsided, but upon her pale cheeks lay, 
 
 Like rain drops upon flowers when a shower has passed away ; 
 
 And ever and anon, a sob convulsed her troubled breast, 
 
 E en as the thunder doth a cloud when a storm wanes in the west. 
 
 She spoke in trembling accents 
 
 " It was a summer day, 
 
 When from the harbor of New York, our steamer sailed away ; 
 The winds were hushed in slumber, and the ocean s emerald face 
 Around us calm and still reposed, it seemed like molten glass ; 
 On the deck there strangely mingled all nations seemingly; 
 Some talked, some read, some sang, some the moments dreamed 
 
 away. 
 I sought a quiet place apart, our child was on my knee, 
 
MINNIE MONTGOMERY. SI 
 
 And when the land sunk neath the waves he clapped his hands 
 
 in glee, 
 
 Nor seemed of the grim waste of waves to harbor up a fear, 
 Although so vast its waters rolled, so terrible, so drear; 
 The second day a gentle breeze from northward softly blew, 
 The sails aloft were all unfurled the ship in splendor flew, 
 Adown the sable ocean by double pressure driven, 
 Like an earthquake through the earth, like a thunder bolt thro 
 
 Heaven. 
 
 A chill, dense mist the ocean s face, the third day did enshroud, 
 And our ship, like a grim demon, a foaming furrow plowed ; 
 Reckless and exultingly as though its path it knew, 
 While her warning bell kept tolling, the lone, shrill whistle blew, 
 And in our hearts a strange unrest was ever brooding near, 
 A feeling of strange anxiousness, almost akin to fear. 
 The fourth day brought a raging storm, and terribly the deep, 
 By wild winds lashed to anger, did its billows round us heap, 
 And beat against the vessel s beam, till all herjoints of oak 
 Mourned dreadful, like a lion dying neath the fatal stroke. 
 Still, midst the strife of elements, our brave boy calmly smiled, 
 His eagle eye grew brighter, gazing on the conflict wild, 
 Of tempest and of ocean, and when others prayed and wept, 
 Softly he nestled on my breast, and smiling, fearless slept. 
 
 xv. 
 
 The wrathful storm passed by at length as we the tropic neared, 
 
 The breeze grew warm upon the deck, and o er the sea appeared 
 
 Some sunny islands, sleeping luxuriant on the wave, 
 
 As beautiful as paradise, as peaceful as the grave. 
 
 We landed on the Isthmus two days we wandered there, 
 
 Amidst those rocky defiles, breathing that noxious air ; 
 
32 MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 
 
 Gazing upon that scenery, leaf, flower and tropic tree, 
 
 So fair and so luxuriant, so strange to northern eye ; 
 
 At length the western ocean broke upon our gladdened sight, 
 
 And we gave a welcome shout with as pure heartfelt delight, 
 
 As Xenophon s immortal band, with labor well nigh lost, 
 
 When they reached the mountain s summit, the relics of a host, 
 
 And there from off the mountain s crest they turned each languid 
 
 eye, 
 And "lo !" they cried, " To westward far, behold ! the sea! the 
 
 sea!" 
 
 XVI. 
 
 We stopped not long in Panama, the steamer ready lay, 
 And we hastened to it as our home, anchored upon the Bay, 
 And when the steamer headed from the shore her mighty prow, 
 And her wheels the sable waters back in foam began to throw, 
 As she started in her mighty strength and grandeur up the main, 
 I felt a thrill of happiness come o er my soul again. 
 For the Isthmus, with its sickness, I thought was safely passed, 
 And we were on a peaceful sea, and nearing you so fast ; 
 Twos then, alas ! our noble boy, who had so calmly smiled, 
 When ocean bellowed in his ear, and the storm s dread voice was 
 
 wild ; 
 
 Then filled with the miasmas rank, which from the Isthmus rise, 
 Grew sick and lost his cheerful look, and ceased his merry plays; 
 All remedies were naught to him, alas ! he suffered so, 
 His eyes grew leaden and the sweat in cold drops chilled his brow. 
 On the fourth morn he stretched in pain, his little arms toward 
 
 me; 
 
 Gave one look up in my face, of unfathomed agony ; 
 Then with a short convulsion his little bosom shook, 
 
MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 8 3 
 
 And his soul in that convulsion from all its earth bonds broke ; 
 And sinking on my aching breast, his bright eyes closed in death, 
 While his lips still seemed to murmur, though moisten d by no 
 breath. 
 
 XVII. 
 
 And then the rude men came, and tore him from my last embrace, 
 
 And in a coarse, rough shroud, forever hid his sunny face. 
 
 They spread the dark flag o er him, and laid him on the guard, 
 
 I saw the seamen by his side, the funeral service heard ; 
 
 I felt a thousand sad eyes bent pityingly on me, 
 
 For our child had been a favorite with all upon the sea ; 
 
 I heard a single splash, and then I saw a foam capped wave, 
 
 As it, alas ! our darling hid, within an ocean grave ; 
 
 And then I heard no longer the thundering of the deep, 
 
 I heard no billows breaking, no wild winds in their sweep ; 
 
 The trembling of the vessel I no more heeded now, 
 
 For I had sunk, insensible, overcome with all my woe. 
 
 I woke at last, the stupor worked slowly from my brain, 
 
 And the memory of my sorrows came back in all its pain ; 
 
 And then I prayed a tempest dire might o er the ocean roll, 
 
 For the dead calm was a torture intense upon my soul ; 
 
 Nothing was heard but far below the engines working hoarse, 
 
 Like ocean monsters quarreling o er our dead infant s corse." 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 A tear stole from the dark eye of Montgomery, as he said 
 " Oh ! sad intelligence, alas ! How infinitely sad, 
 How dear has been the price to us, our paltry wealth has cost, 
 Our child, our precious child, to us for ever, ever lost ; 
 
 The prey of grasping sickness, of pain and wetched death, 
 3 
 
34 MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 
 
 The food for ocean monsters in their lairs, the sea beneath ; 
 Oh ! most afflicting circumstance, most terrible event, 
 Why was the cup of bitterness, thus at this moment sent ? 
 
 XIX. 
 
 And then a silence fell upon them, each occupied alone 
 
 With their own thoughts, which that moment unbidden seemed 
 
 to come. 
 
 Thus wrapt in meditation, they unconsciously drew near, 
 Till their cheeks pressed each other, and they mingled tear with 
 
 tear. 
 She spoke 
 
 " He was a fairy boy, so beautiful, so brave, 
 I thought my heart was breaking when they told me nought could 
 
 save 
 
 And when they hurled him in the ocean, and my reason failed, 
 
 Still in my wild delirium my child s death I bewailed. 
 
 But tell me, Clay, how have you fared in this strange land, my 
 
 dear? 
 Give me a story of your life since first you wandered here." 
 
 xx. 
 
 He answered" Twere a tedious tale ; long months I toiled along, 
 Midst canon, rock, and defile, and the mountains heart of stone. 
 I wore a miner s garment, I lived on miner s fare, 
 I slept beneath a miner s roof, or oftener neath the clear 
 And peaceful Heavens, with bright worlds spangled o er, 
 While round, the summer zephyrs played amidst the pine tops hoar 
 Their soft JSolian melodies, like angel voices sweet ; 
 The mountains towered above, the world was slumbering at my 
 feet; 
 
MIXXIE MONTGOMERY. 35 
 
 And the toil upon my body, the mountains bracing air, 
 The scenery rich and beautiful, the lowering pine and fir ; 
 The wild flower, the waterfall, and more wonderful, the flow 
 Of the torrent in the spring time, when the south winds fan the 
 
 snow ; 
 
 Or more fearful and beautiful, the avalanche s tread, 
 When the piled up snows of ages in one vast mass is sped, 
 When the cedars of the mountains, and the mighty rocks are rent, 
 And all in one wild rum, far below is hurled and blent; 
 Such scenery, such exercise, and the mountains cooling springs, 
 Restored again my wasted frame, till health, on rosy wings, 
 Hung her mantle at my tent door and fanned my aching brain, 
 Till it ceased its fevered throbbings and forgot its crushing pain. 
 
 XXI. 
 
 And I was blessed, with yellow dro^s my ample purse was filled, 
 I trust my heart had gratitude, that thus kind heaven will d. 
 Twas then I left my mountain home and turned my footsteps here, 
 To practice that profession that was ever to me dear ; 
 Nor waited idle very long, for one morn walking forth, 
 I saw a scared steed dash a helpless infant to the earth, 
 And mangle it so horribly that other surgeons nigh, 
 Looked on the subject and pronounced it hurt past remedy ; 
 But when the mother raised her voice, and weeping, wailing, said, 
 It was her darling, only child, my heart for pity bled ; 
 For I thought of you, my Minnie, and our unequal d son, 
 (Our peerless child, which did, alas ! his race so quickly run), 
 And stepping forth, the broken bones and ligaments I bound, 
 Tied up the bleeding arteries, and closed each gaping wound; 
 And after weeks of watching, I saw my patient heal, 
 
36 MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 
 
 Saw that mother s heart o erflow, as her joy she strove to tell, 
 And when the child recovered and could smile upon her knee 
 Her heart gushed out in gratitude, unbounded unto me ; 
 It made me very famous, too, and in the city here, 
 The first physicians think it no disgrace to call me peer. 
 
 XXII. 
 
 My money I invested, and my good stars were so kind, 
 That every purchase seemed to have a fortune round it twined : 
 And wealth came flowing unto me in secret golden springs, 
 Till now I have an income, rich and splendid as a king s. 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 I had prepared a fair attire, to deck your graceful form, 
 Jewels and gems, and diamonds rare, to highten every charm ; 
 But tidings mournful as ye bring, become not vain display, 
 Like gaudy robes or burning gems, or pearls or rubies gay ; 
 You look fatigued, my poor, dear wife, try and repose awhile, 
 I will return and talk with you, when you more rested feel ; 
 I have a little business in the city for an hour, 
 Meanwhile, I pray, submit yourself to sleep s refreshing power, 
 And should you in my absence the smallest trifle need, 
 Ring yonder bell, a servant will the summons straightway heed. 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 Saying this, he left the splendid room, while the bewildered wife 
 Gazed round her in astonishment, for never in her life 
 Had she aspired higher than a cottage, plain and neat, 
 Now she seemed in fairy land, in some genii s grand retreat. 
 "Is this no blissful dream?" said she, u my reason, are ye still 
 Clear and unclouded on your throne, or did my child s death kill 
 
MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 37 
 
 The little spark that burned before ?" And then she pressed her 
 
 brow. 
 
 " What splendor, what magnificence am I beholding now ? 
 Harp, curtain, carpet, mirror, books and tinselry of gold, 
 What means this glitter, this display, that my poor eyes behold?" 
 
 A door that led from the rich room, ajar stood on its hinge, 
 She pushed it wider open, and then a fevered tinge 
 Swept o er her features, and her heart with deep emotion swelled, 
 As spell-bound, the scene before here, she wonderingly beheld, 
 And low upon her heaving breast, she bowed her pensive head, 
 And down her ashen cheeks a flood of burning, sad tears fled. 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 Far back by Susquehanna s stream, a simple dwelling stood, 
 Before it was the river deep, around a grove of wood ; 
 And in its sacred precincts, there was one little room, 
 Two pictures on the cold gray walls, relieved in part its gloom ; 
 Some simple furniture it had, some toys were on the floor, 
 As if a child in its new glee, had dropped what pleased before. 
 That was Minnie s bridal chamber. At first upon the wall, 
 No ornament was shining, save her picture, fair and tall. 
 Anon, by some mysterious hand, beside her likeness there, 
 Another picture had appeared, e en more divinely fair ; 
 Methinks, in some old tale I ve read, was found the sweet design, 
 Twas a fond and youthful mother, whose slender arm entwined, 
 Her first born in its innocence, and she held it towards its sire, 
 While in their eyes, sweet, holy love, beamed like celestial fire. 
 And afterward, beside her own, was drawn a little bed, 
 And upon its downy pillow shone, to her an angel s head ; 
 
38 MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 
 
 Here was the picture painted o er, but with a golden brush, 
 And as she gazed, the memory of years did o er her rush ; 
 The years of her existence, since she became a wife, 
 And started on that holy and hallowed path of life. 
 But from that downy pillow there shone no golden curls, 
 No, where the storm-wrapt ocean the foam capped billow hurls, 
 That sunny head was slumbering, unconcious of the storm 
 That broke, and rolled, and thundered upon its slender form. 
 
 XXTII. 
 
 Then from room to room, she wandered, and wondrous to behold, 
 Some new beauty, some splendor each moment did unfold. 
 "Ah, me ! Ah, me !" she said, "To what magnificence I ve come; 
 A millionaire my husband, and so palace-like my home ; 
 How swift, and oh, how beautiful have all these changes been, 
 Yesterday a peasant, almost, to-day almost a queen ; 
 And am I truly grateful? Oh ! may my proud thought bow, 
 May to Him be all the glory from whom our blessings flow ; 
 And then she knelt upon the gorgeous carpet neath her feet, 
 And murmured forth a prayer, in tones so tender, low, and sweet, 
 That angels might have stopped awhile their sounding harps on 
 
 high, 
 
 To listen, as the enchanting voice thrilled thro the concave sky, 
 As it journeyed thro space, beyond the clouds and stars abode, 
 Until it trembling fell upon the awful ear of God. 
 
 Father in Heaven ! Thou who from the cloud 
 Canst still the storm and stay the lightning s sweep, 
 Thou, whose Almighty arm can bow the proud, 
 Thou, whose all radiant smile can stay the weak, 
 
MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 39 
 
 Look on the creature that before Thee kneels, 
 
 Have pity on the heart that sorrow feels, 
 
 And from Thy throne of purity and light, 
 
 Drive from my soul its darkness and affright ; 
 
 And may I feel that in yon azure Heaven, 
 
 My sins, though many, all are marked forgiven. 
 
 Oh ! may I to my husband ever be 
 
 The dearest object Lord, excepting Thee. 
 
 And Oh ! preserve that husband in Thy power, 
 
 Sustain his mind in dread temptation s hour, 
 
 And make us very happy here below. 
 
 Give us a flood of grace to overthrow 
 
 All obstacles a sinful world may build 
 
 Between us and the path Thou, God, hast willed 
 
 That we should trea/d upon. And when the breath 
 
 From the wrung body separates in Death, 
 
 When the glad earth is fading on the view, 
 
 And the dark world reflects its shadowy hue, 
 
 And when our eyes are dimmed in Death s dread stream, 
 
 Grant they may ope where Heaven s rich splendors beam ; 
 
 And then in praise we ll raise to Thee a strain 
 
 So loud that angels shall unite. Amen. 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 It would have filled a sculptor s or painter s wildest dream ; 
 But such beauty from marble or from canvas ne er did beam ; 
 That being in her loveliness, bent tremblingly in prayer, 
 Her thin hands clasped, her brow of pearl so magically fair, 
 Her blue eyes closed, while o er Hep cheeks the long, dark lashes 
 
40 MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 
 
 And, curling o er her snowy neck, the ringlets swept in play ; 
 
 In her fervor, the color was enkindled on her cheek r 
 
 Her parted lips, though silent,, seemed again about to speak. 
 
 Thus bowed the beauteous creature low in prayer before her God, 
 
 That prayer on angel pinions, to Heaven s high mansions rode. 
 
 Twas true, what Luther said, "There s nothing under Heaven 
 
 Sweeter than is a woman s heart, when it to God is given I" 
 
 She lingered thus a moment,, and then sedate arose, 
 
 And walked to her piano ; as a crystal fountain flows, 
 
 Serene and full of melody, with sweet and liquid tone, 
 
 Murmuring in happiness, though journeying on alone ; 
 
 So swept her slender fingers along the ivory keys, 
 
 And a strain of sweetness followed as soft as summer breeze, 
 
 And then in wilder measures, her hands more swiftly fell, 
 
 And from the echoing instrument, gushed melodies to swell 
 
 The heart with their intensity, so ravishingly grand, 
 
 It seemed a harp of Heaven, touched by an angel s hand ; 
 
 And then in gentle numbers, the sweet sounds died away, 
 
 And with a simple prelude, she chanted forth this lay. 
 
 SQXG. 
 Holy Father, hear my wailing, 
 
 Here upon this Western shore, 
 For dark terrors are assailing, 
 
 And my heart is sadly tore. 
 
 May thy spirit smile upon me, 
 
 From thy throne beyond the stars, 
 
 And may that smile be company, 
 Through earth s unceasing oaves,. 
 
MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 41 
 
 For life at best is wearisome, 
 
 There s many an hour of g^om, 
 That round the gayest mortals come, 
 
 Twixt the cradle arid the tomb. 
 
 Our days are full of bitterness, 
 
 Then let us learn to love, 
 Alone to look for happiness, 
 
 In the better world above. 
 
 "Where the weary spirit resteth 
 
 And the troubled head is free, 
 To share that joy which lasteth 
 
 Through a wide Eternity. 
 
 As the echoes of the last note rolled through the mansion grand, 
 She leaned upon the instrument, her head upon her hand ; 
 And overcome with suffering, fatigue, surprise, delight, 
 Her senses to the peaceful realms of slumber bent their flight, 
 And when an hour had passed, Montgomery found her there, 
 Her head still resting on her hand, so fragile and so fair 
 

 CANTO III. 
 
 Two months had rolled away, since Montgomery s matchless wife 
 
 Had come to prove the trials of a California life ; 
 
 Her fears had vanished, and her hopes and beauty were restored, 
 
 And she seemed a being worthy enough to be adored. 
 
 Though her polished brow was sad at times, it had a sacred charm, 
 
 For it told tho mother s woe o er her dead child yet was warm. 
 
 A mother s love how fathomless, disinterested, pure 
 
 It yearns, no lust to gratify ; no fortune to secure. 
 
 ii. 
 
 Twas evening ; and Montgomery and his fair wife, side by side, 
 Were conversing fond together, like a bridegroom and a bride. 
 " You are looking fair, my Minnie," the happy husband said ; 
 "Those eyes of thine around to-night all their old lustre shed; 
 I am rejoiced to see the rose to thy fair cheek return ; 
 I am glad to welcome back thy smile, that used so sweet to burn 
 On thy calm face ; oft when the midnight o er the mountain s brow 
 Her sable mantle hung, I ve seen that smile in dreams as now 
 Beaming upon me, and though alone amidst the wild, 
 I felt my guardian angel had come near, and on me smiled." 
 
MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 43 
 
 III. 
 
 She answered: "I too am rejoiced to find prosperity, 
 
 While it changed your fortune much, left your heart unchanged 
 
 to me. 
 
 Oh ! tell me, what wife could not smile, with the assurance blest, 
 Her image held the sacred place in her beloved one s breast? 
 That he, her chosen one, looked on her acts approvingly, 
 And at her imperfections glanced with a forgiving eye. 
 Tell me, what cheek would fail to bloom in the soft atmosphere 
 A husband s love sheds round a wife, like summer all the year. 
 
 IV. 
 
 " Minnie ! " said Clay, " You are the fairest gift prosperity, 
 Of ail her splendid presents, has or can bequeath to me ; 
 The treasure I prize higher and more sacredly than gold ; 
 Yea ; while I pined in penury, you were a wealth untold ; 
 A gem to which the golden sands in California s streams, 
 Or pearls and rubies that in ocean s awful chasm gleams, 
 Are but as yonder lamp s dull light beside the great sun s rays, 
 When in noontide magnificence he on the world doth blaze. " 
 
 v. 
 
 "You choose to flatter me to-night, " the happy wife replied; 
 You kindle almost in my heart my vanity and pride 
 So near that I m determined to show you something now, 
 That mortal eye save mine ne er saw, of which save me none 
 
 know : 
 
 You remember in my girlish days I had a strange desire 
 To be a painter, for within I felt an artist s fire, 
 At least I fancied so, and when at last you went away, 
 The time rolled by so sorrowful, so weary, day by day, 
 
44 MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 
 
 For pastime and amusement to while away the hours, 
 In sketching scenes about our home I tried my feeble powers. " 
 Saying this, she held a picture before her husband s face 
 And asked him if his memory could call up such a place ? 
 
 TI. 
 
 " Sure, by Heaven ! " he answered, "Minnie, tis natural as life ; 
 Ah ! the memory of those scenes is with holy pleasure rife ; 
 Our quiet Pennsylvania home; the old majestic elm, 
 Its branches are the wild winds harp, the glad bird s shady realm ; 
 There s garden, orchard, woodland, and yonder o er the plain, 
 The grazing herds; and further see, the hills all white with grain!" 
 
 " And husband ! knowest thou this ? " said she. He answered, 
 
 " Tis most true, 
 
 The old church with its sombre dome and weather-beaten hue ; 
 Listen ! methinks e en now I hear the organ s solemn peal 
 Roll its deep echoes grand and deep adown each ancient aisle. " 
 
 " And what think st thou of this ? " she asked 
 
 " Most sacred group " said he, 
 
 "Your parents in their evening years, in bloom the almond tree, 
 Father and Mother, Bible, chair, the sun and stars and light, 
 Grown dim those spirits all in readiness to take their flight 
 Back to the God who quickened them, and who from his white 
 
 throne 
 Has seen their righteous acts on earth and all their pure thoughts 
 
 known, " 
 
MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 45 
 
 IX. 
 
 Then with sad look and solemn voice she asked him if he knew 
 A picture which, with trembling hand, she held before his view. 
 
 " Know it! " replied Montgomery the treasure we have lost, 
 
 He who is silent sleeping now with ocean s countless host, 
 
 Know it, that eye of thine, that smile, that noble brow, 
 
 Those ringlets that around it like a sea of beauty flow; 
 
 The little link twas given us to bind our first sweet love, 
 
 And which to think of now leads up our wandering minds above 
 
 To Heaven s resplendent mansions where those cherub lips repeat 
 
 Anthems of such rapt splendor, they are to God s ear sweet, 
 
 Those tiny hands are sweeping swift immortal strings to-day, 
 
 And seraphs stop to listen, and archangels join the lay. 
 
 Know it ! when will I not know it ? Our precious only child ! 
 
 The present given by Heaven when our love was young and wild; 
 
 A part of our own beings now your tears begin to flow, 
 
 The memory of our lost one brings back its weight of woe ; 
 
 How natural and beautiful thy images are cast, 
 
 My gentle, wondrous Minnie, what faculties thou hast. " 
 
 " You make me very happy now, " replied the sobbing wife, 
 Methinks I ve at times a foretaste of Heaven in this life ; 
 If those poor sketches please you, as we have a leisure hour, 
 I ll show you some I painted when my hand had gained more 
 
 power, 
 
 And my taste a little had improved by labour and by care ; 
 Their outlines are more vivid, their pencilings more fair. " 
 
46 MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 
 
 XII. 
 
 Then she took from her portfolio some paintings rare and grand, 
 
 Scenes his memory quickly traced back to his Fatherland ; 
 
 The scenery of his childhood, the river and the hill ; 
 
 The cottage of the farmer, the waterfall and mill ; 
 
 The garden with its sweet flowers, the city and the lake, 
 
 And deep woods, whose strong branches in the cool winds bend 
 
 and quake. 
 
 Montgomery was delighted, and he praised his fair wife s skill, 
 Till she felt a gush of gladness her secret heart cells thrill, 
 And she stopped his praises with a kiss. Then he said 
 
 "My dear, 
 
 Thou shalt not lack for glorious scenes to fill your fancy here, 
 We have many a rolling river, majestic in its flow, 
 And many a verdant valley where the wild flowers love to grow ; 
 Many a snow-clad mountain and many a mighty tree, 
 Amidst their boughs wild eaglets scream, and wilder winds make 
 
 glee; 
 
 We have many fearful chasms, the rents of ages past, 
 As if Nature had been wrung before in anguish wild and vast ; 
 We have many curious animals and birds, and reptiles queer, 
 And radiant skies all cloudless almost the live long year. 
 I have something to show you too by the clock tis early yet 
 And I have ever tried through life not long to owe a debt ; 
 When within the dreary mountains my hard day s toil was done, 
 And evening found me in my tent with Nature all alone, 
 I had a feeling some akin to that which prompted you 
 To sketch those beaming pictures you just held up to view, 
 I dreamed not then that you would come this weary distance here, 
 Across the fevered Isthmus, o er the oceans vast and drear, 
 
MINNIE MONTGOMERY, 47 
 
 And I thought, to while the hours away, a story I would write ; 
 A history of my wanderings and dreams I would indite, 
 And I thought some future day, when age had o er us stole, 
 I would read to you, some lonely hour, the unconnected scroll; 
 Or, I thought when I was dead and my grave was covered deep r 
 You would find the dingy manuscript and o er its pages weep. " 
 
 " Oh ! talk not so, dear husband were your grave now covered up 
 I would pray death might pity me and send the bitter cup> " 
 Said the agitated Minnie, while sadly in her eye 
 A tear was shining like a star upon a cloudy sky. 
 
 Montgomery continued, "Since to-night you were so kind 
 As to show me all those fairy scenes your pencil had designed 
 I will your generous confidence at least repay in part, 
 By reading you what heretofore was secret in my heart ; 
 Then he drew from out his papers a manuscript much worn, 
 "With leaves all wrinkled and deformed, and pages bent and torn, 
 And sitting down beside her he said, " I m honored, dear, 
 My poem ne er was read before to audience half so fair. " 
 Then she smiled serene upon him, and leaned her graceful head 
 Upon his arm confidingly, and listened while he read. 
 
 xv. 
 
 Then a vivid and thrilling tale he read in measures sweet, 
 Of his wanderings o er hills and plains, a history complete, 
 How for many, many a weary month they toiled upon the way, 
 How the wilderness grew more profound and desolate each day, 
 How neath the hand of sickness his strongest comrades died 
 
-IS MINNIE MOOTGOMER?. 
 
 How they dug for them lone, unmarked graves their weary path 
 
 beside, 
 
 How many a glorious landscape loomed up upon the way, 
 How Nature painted them a scene sublime and new each day ; 
 Blue mountains in the distance, fair plains beneath the eye, 
 Bold rocks abruptly rising, deep rivers rolling by ; 
 A city in the wilderness a silent, tideless lake, 
 Whose waters dense and bitter would no traveller s fierce thirst 
 
 slake ; 
 
 How a thousand foaming buffalo would rush across their track ; 
 How the wolves around their camp at night would howl, a venal 
 
 pack; 
 
 How tribes of hostile savages would prowl upon their path, 
 kike grim and hideous phantoms, like messengers of death ; 
 How on the barren desert their beasts of burden died, 
 And strong men, like children weak, for a cup of water cried ; 
 Then days of dreadful loneliness, of body wasting toil, 
 While delving in river beds, in the mountains stony soil ; 
 Of hours of fearful suffering, when fever thrilled his veins, 
 And the body cramped and writhed beneath convulsing pains; 
 Arid when far in the mountains the snows did him besiege, 
 Until his feet did wander upon starvation s verge : 
 Twas a poem full of beauty, and his fair wife smiled or cried, 
 As upon each different chord of her tender heart he played. 
 And when he ceased to read, she was eloquent in praise, 
 Declaring her poor paintings were nothing to his lays. 
 "I shall dream to-night" said she, "of wandering o er those 
 
 plains, 
 
 For in my ears are ringing still, those melting, thrilling strains. 
 Last night was full of terrors for I so strangely dreamed 
 
MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 49 
 
 I was sailing on the ocean, or so at least it seemed; 
 I heard the rush of wild winds, for a storm convulsed the deep, 
 I felt the vessel tremble, as the billows round did sweep, 
 I heard the tramp of feet on deck, the call and the reply; 
 Midst parting chains, and splitting sails, and crashing masts, a cry 
 Arose above the tumult dire, in terror and dismay, 
 And I knew the ship upon the sea all crushed and broken lay ; 
 The mad waves stove her oaken beams ; I knew that hope had fled. 
 One prayer I offered up to Heaven, for thee one tear I shed ; 
 Up through the palace cabins the bitter waters rose, 
 The great ship moaned in every beam, as they o er it dark did 
 
 close ; 
 
 Then followed death s fierce agony, but it rolled briefly by. 
 Dear husband, is t so terrible a thing, think you, to die ? 
 At first there was a struggle, and then the pain was gone, 
 I felt that we were sinking ten thousand fathoms down. 
 The bellowing of the ocean grew sweet to hear at last, 
 And it murmured in my ear like an organ grand and vast : 
 At length we reached the kingdoms of the children of the main, 
 Where fabled Thetis calls her nymphs ; where Neptune holds his 
 
 reign : 
 
 There, in chambers of magnificence, the pearl and ruby beamed, 
 And rarest gems and diamonds midst the courts of emerald 
 
 gleamed ; 
 
 Another sun was shining fair to light those realms below, 
 And round it other planets rolled, solemn, august and slow ; 
 Another moon and stars shone upward through the waters there, 
 And their beams were far more brilliant than those that bathe 
 
 us].here. 
 And as we came, the ocean dead rose up a countless band, 
 
50 MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 
 
 A smile was on each feature and extended was each hand; 
 
 No more the ghastly corses that make loathsome ocean s caves, 
 
 But they stood in child-like freshness all ransomed from their 
 
 graves ; 
 
 And fairest midst the radiant band, I marked our peerless child; 
 I thought to clasp him to my heart in joy intense and wild; 
 And then the vision passed away. Say, husband, dearest one, 
 What could have made my wandering mind in such a channel 
 
 run?" 
 
 xvr. 
 "Never mind," replied Montgomery, "Let us change the subject, 
 
 dear, 
 You know two months have rolled away since first you landed 
 
 here, 
 
 I had thought on your arrival to make a festival, 
 Our neighbors and the friends we love around our hearth to call, 
 But mournful tidings as ye brought became not vain display. 
 Now time has passed tis due our friends why need we more 
 
 delay ? 
 
 Let s have it New Year s evening upon a holiday, 
 Our friends will be the more rejoiced to visit us," said Clay. 
 
 XVII. 
 
 "If you wish it, tis my will, " replied the obliging wife, 
 " But Clay, I pray you let it be with no wild revels rif?, 
 For surely since our infant s death, to me the swelling tear 
 Has been a close companion, and it seems so sadly dear, 
 I would not now exchange it for vain fashion s hollow smile, 
 With which, though heart be breaking, we must deck ourselves < 
 the while. " 
 
MINNIE MONTGOMERY. SI 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 " "Tis well, " replied her husband, " but one favor I would crave, 
 Will you, to please me, wear, the richest jewelry you have ? 
 For the San Francisco people for once I would make stare, 
 By showing them a creature, so refined, and chaste, and fair, 
 That their eyes shall all be blinded, as they upon her gaze ! 
 Nay, wife, to such a little wish, do not objections raise. 
 I know tis not quite etiquette, to dress so well at home, 
 But tis your first appearance at a party since you come ; 
 Grant me this trifling favor, and I promise you the rest, 
 You may devise and execute, just as you deem it best. 
 
 XIX. 
 
 " Tis granted, Clay, " she answered, " all for your sake I ll bear ; 
 For your dear sake alone I wish your plain wife was more fair. " 
 
 xx. 
 
 Let us leave the happy couple, wrapt in love s mantle warm, 
 Let us leave them, sweet conversing, while love words have their 
 
 charm. 
 
 In fancy we will enter yonder beautiful saloon ; 
 Hark ! from those living instruments that soft, enrapturing tune ; 
 See ! behind those marble counters, those shining bottles stand, 
 Behold those splendid paintings hanging rudely on each hand, 
 And see, beside those tables, heaped up with glittering gold, 
 Those fallen women sitting, all uncovered and bold, 
 Amidst the crowd of lustful men, who nightly there do meet, 
 To gaze upon their withered charms, to coax unyielding Fate ; 
 To make their fortunes by a throw. Oh ! hear that bitter curse, 
 The card was false ! Another bosom writhes in wild remorse ; 
 A miner s little fortune has all dissolved away ! 
 
52 MIHNIE MONTGOMERY. 
 
 The ship to bear him to his home lies waiting on the Bay ; 
 
 Well he knew his faithful wife was expecting his return ; 
 
 He knows her heart toward his doth with affection boundless 
 
 yearn. 
 
 Last night in dreams he saw her with their infant on her knee, 
 She was praying to the Being who rules the winds and sea. 
 To protect her absent husband : that he might safely come 
 To gladden and make happy, once more their humble home. 
 But all has vanished now. Alas ! once more he must go back ; 
 Once more his lonely pathway towards the mountains he must 
 
 track. 
 
 Long wiU that wife his coming wait. He staggers to the bar, 
 Vainly he hopes that poison dark will drown his soul s fierce war. 
 Seest thou into the future ? behold a twelvemonth glide : 
 Behold that little mound that s raised upon the cold hill side : 
 Yonder saddened group of miners are telling of his fate ; 
 How they knew him in his childhood far back in some old State ; 
 How he was among his class-mates looked up to as a peer ; 
 How he wooed and won a maiden, intelligent and fair ; 
 How the book of life seemed opening upon a brilliant page, 
 And destiny seemed pointing to a glorious old age. 
 But at length his feet did wander to California s shore, 
 Her thousand sweet allurements too fiercely o er him bore ; 
 From temptation to temptation his eager footsteps ran, 
 Till he lost the very semblance of the noble, gifted man, 
 And finally, a loathsome and besotted thing, he died, 
 And his grave they had been filling upon the lone hill side. 
 Lo ! there ll be heart-strings broken when from hence they tell 
 his doom; 
 
MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 53 
 
 Hot tears will flow from sad eyes, though they fall not on his 
 
 tomb, 
 
 And souls that used to meet in love and mingle with his own, 
 Shall wander o er the gloomy earth all desolate alone. 
 
 But see ! in yonder window s niche, those three men standing 
 
 there, 
 
 Conversing thus, a contrast strange they to each other bear ; 
 One has a cheerful, handsome face, a frank and manly eye, 
 A look that whispers love of life and yet that dares to die ; 
 His brow is full of gentleness and yet the lip compressed, 
 Proclaims a kingly soul and stern, is throbbing in his breast, 
 And in the twinkle of his eye, the gesture of his hand, 
 There^s gracefulness and dignity, -a softness, yet command ; 
 His comrades call him Captain Thorn, his ship lies on the Bay ; 
 He is resting from a, tedious voyage in dissipation gay. 
 
 XXII, 
 
 A tall man stands beside him, with dark and restless eye ; 
 With such a brow as genius loves commanding, proud, and high, 
 His age perhaps is thirty years, that envious, glorious time, 
 When youth s impetuous currents join with manhood s tides sub 
 lime; 
 
 His hand has a quick gesture, his lip a scornful curl, 
 As if hie dark mind thunderbolts doth love to forge and hurl ; 
 And ever and anon a smile gleams on the swarthy face, 
 So haughty and sarcastic, one loves not its course to trace; 
 The others call him Wallace, a shrewd, learned, advocate, 
 Honored among his peers, as the greatest of their great. 
 
54 MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 Beside them stands another man : full fifty years have spent 
 
 Their tempests o er his bared brow, but still he is unbent ; 
 
 His gray eyes beam yet brightly, but a look of avarice 
 
 Sits on the plodding features, cold as a mount of ice. 
 
 In the Phoenix city of the West, as a man of wealth and fame, 
 
 And a learned and skilled physician, he bears an envied name. 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 Wallace at length addressed him "Leonard, you seem sore vexed 
 
 this eve ; 
 Pray, is it for a patient, or a bargain lost, you grieve ? n 
 
 xxv. 
 
 " Neither, " he answered " But I hate that Clay Montgomery ; 
 He is my evil genius sure ; he thwarts me every way ; 
 Three days since, we in counsel grave, stood o er a dying man ; 
 At least upon his breast I thought I could Death s talons scan ; 
 His pulse had almost ceased to beat, his breath came with a moan, 
 His limbs were stiff and rigid, and cold and hard as stone ; 
 His breath came short and shorter, his eyes were fixed and dim, 
 A cold and clammy moisture was stealing stealthily o er each 
 
 limb; 
 
 I would have sworn he was dying, and told his friends the same, 
 But then Montgomery, with a smile of scorn and malice, came ; 
 He mixed some simple medicine, and gave the sufferer ae r 
 Arranged the pallet neath him, bowed politely, and was gone ; 
 And now, the third day only, the maa sits in his chair 
 Upon his broad verandah, to catch the seo^cooled air. 
 Another man we tended on ; I saw him jester eve ; 
 
_ MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 55 
 
 His symptoms all were favorable ; I thought that he would live. 
 
 Montgomery shook his sapient head, and as he turned away 
 
 I heard him whisper that twould all be ended by to-day. 
 
 I could see nothing critical, my utmost skill I tried, 
 
 And now, ere yet one day has past, the unhappy man has died. 
 
 He seems to gaze far into the secrets of men s lives, 
 
 So profound are the conclusions to which his mind arrives. " 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 " And I hate him, too, " said Wallace u he has outwitted me ; 
 
 He bought the self same real estate that I had meant to buy ; 
 
 And Fortune smiled on every plan, till now he can retire 
 
 At thirty, with a wealth to which I never did aspire. 
 
 "Tis said his wife has joined him now a wondrous creature too, 
 
 Accomplished, modest, and more still, exceeding fair to view ; 
 
 A face as radiant and calm as California s sky, 
 
 A form like California s moon, serene, and proud, and high. 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 " And, " added Thorn, " a brain as rich as California s mines, 
 A soul as pure as her cold snows, as generous as her winee, 
 And what is stranger still to me, with all her loveliness, 
 In this wild land, where virtue doth so frail a hold possess, 
 She lias a heart so guileless that sin itself would pale, 
 Before such stainless purity twould venture to assail 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 Thus the friends conversed together, till a pistol s loud report 
 Rung out upon the crowd, and stopped their conversation short ; 
 
56 MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 
 
 Then followed fearful shoutings, curses fierce, and frantic cries, 
 And as the wild mass separate, behold one prostrate lies ; 
 Breathing, alas, his soul away in that low gambling den, 
 The haunt of fallen women, the resort of lustful men. 
 How terrible the summons ! from that accursed abode 
 To go and meet the glances of a sin-abhoring God. 
 
CANTO IV. 
 
 Again night s dusky mantle veiled the stars and moonlit heaven, 
 And seaward like a flying host, the murmuring winds were driven ; 
 Within Montgomery s mansion, a flood of light was streaming, 
 And in the rare magnificence, a thousand gems were beaming ; 
 And midst the rich illumined rooms were gorgeous dresses flowing, 
 And rosy cheeks and brilliant eyes, on every hand were glowing, 
 And music, ravishingly sweet, breathed thro the ample dwelling, 
 And out upon the autumn air, like a spirit blest was swelling, 
 And forms of witching elegance were floating here and there, 
 Men proud, sedate and noble, women enrapturingly fair ; 
 The glory of that city, which wonderful to tell, 
 Sprung at once as twere to being, finished and beautiful, 
 As awful Pallas sprung complete from mighty Jove of old, 
 As Alladin s gorgeous palace rose by Arab fable told. 
 
 ii. 
 
 But midst that fair assembled throng, two forms outshone the rest, 
 Two forms of wondrous beauty, and yet of strange contrast ; 
 The one was Lady Frances Gray she d been invited there, 
 She crushed within her nervous hand, the invitation fair, 
 
58 MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 
 
 And a smile of dreadful triumph lit up her haughty eye, 
 As stern she muttered, now the hour for my revenge draws nigh. 
 Now, Frances Gray, forget a woman s heart e er beat in thec, 
 Now come, ye dark and blasting thoughts, come and commune 
 
 with me ; 
 
 A curse be on that hateful man who robbed me of my peace, 
 Then carelessly forsook me in sorrow and distress. 
 True, I pity Ms poor wife, but who thinks to pity me ? 
 Though remorse doth lash my bosom, as tempests lash the sea ; 
 Who feels the never dying worm that gnaws upon my heart ? 
 Who knows the pangs of bitterness, that conscience s shafts doth 
 
 dart ? 
 
 I ll attend this goodly festival, for by this time I trust 
 I ll find an opportunity to bow him down to dust. 
 
 in. 
 
 With thoughts of sweeping vengeance, she sought the festival, 
 Majestic as a stately ship, she sailed into the hall ; 
 She was indeed, most beautiful, arrayed in stainless white, 
 And o^er her spotless garments, flashed a hundred jewels bright ; 
 Her cheeks had lost their crimson, but her eyes more grandly 
 
 dark 
 
 Shone o er her polished features, e en as we often mark, 
 In people perishing beneath consumption s withering breath, 
 They seem more sweetly beautiful, as they nearer droop toward 
 
 death. 
 
 Her hair in glossy ringlets did o er her shoulders flow, 
 In contrast strange and lovely with her neck and robes of snow, 
 As when deep winters robes of white are folded on some hill, 
 The dark and shadowy evergreens wave o er it gorgeous stilL 
 
MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 59 
 
 IV. 
 
 On the other hand was Minnie, in sable velvet dressed, 
 Upon her face a sacred look of sorrow still did rest ; 
 Though she had fulfilled her promise to wear her jewelry, 
 Twas only ever and anon, a diamond met the eye, 
 For she d concealed them artfully beneath her habit dark, 
 And from its hiding place, a gem only at times would lurk. 
 But there was yet the high, pale brow, the eye of azure blue, 
 The smile of angel tenderness one loves so well to view ; 
 That smile of earnest nature, not the studied one of art, 
 It tells that streams of innocence flow ever through the heart ; 
 That look of modest dignity and gentleness combined, 
 Which has to man s eye such a fascination round it twined ; 
 That charm so irresistible, which women sometimes wear, 
 Till, as we captivated gaze, real angels they appear. 
 
 Thus stood Lady Gray and Minnie, they had never met before, 
 And through Frances heart for envy, did the hot blood rush and 
 
 pour; 
 
 As Minnie s matchless charms she viewed, she to herself confessed 
 Her loveliness, though at the thought a pang convulsed her breast. 
 
 VI. 
 
 On the other band was Minnie, when she saw the Lady Gray, 
 The beaming of her lustrous eyes, her ringlets in their play, 
 Her sweeping robes and graceful form, as calm and still she stood, 
 Like a white swan by the ocean s brink, like a Driad of the wood; 
 Yielded joyful admiration, and hastening to Clay, 
 She asked him if from fairy land he brought his guests that day ; 
 Pointing smilingly toward Frances, as she stood full in the light, 
 
60 MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 
 
 In her sweeping robes and ringlets, in her proud majestic height, 
 With every feature heightened to its fullest, sweetest charm, 
 Like a wondrous piece of statue, from the sculptor s chisel warm. 
 
 Oh ! could she in her innocence have known that creature s heart, 
 Have noticed on that plastic face the hollow smile of art, 
 Could she have known the hidden things her erring husband knew, 
 She might have marked the anxious look that o er his features 
 
 flew; 
 
 She might not thus have smiled on him in happiness and pride, 
 She might have marked his hurried words, as quick he left her 
 
 side ; 
 
 But her own heart was so innocent, so destitute of guile, 
 She doubted not but others were pure as hers the while. 
 
 The eve wore on; in little groups clustered the gorgeous band, 
 And tired with feast and dancing, the scene grew coldly grand ; 
 Till one more thoughtful than the rest proposed a song be sung, 
 And then, "a song, a merry song," from every quarter rung, 
 One and another volunteered, at length the Lady Gray 
 Was asked to please her many friends, some favorite air to play. 
 
 She smiled a sweet but haughty smile, and rising like a queen, 
 
 Her dark eyes had a brilliancy, unearthly in their sheen ; 
 
 As she strode to the piano and smote its startled keys, 
 
 As tempests strike a sleeping ship on the tropic s burning seas, 
 
 She struck a high, wild prolude, and as it died away, 
 
 Her voice took up the prelude in a melancholy lay. 
 
MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 61 
 
 SONG. 
 
 What is life ? What is life ? Tis a cup full of sorrow, 
 A sea o er which storms forever are sweeping ; 
 
 Tis a dark starless night, <*nd how fearless its morrow, 
 It begins and advances, and closes in weeping. 
 
 Some moisten with tears their path to the tomb, 
 
 And some with the laugh mock the pangs of the soul, 
 
 For where is the heart o er which billows of gloom 
 Do not, like the ocean, eternally roll? 
 
 x. 
 
 The wild notes died away at length, the songster s sweeping eye, 
 Which gleamed so brightly while she sung, went neath its lid to 
 
 lie; 
 
 And her fair cheek which blossomed full of roses while she sung, 
 Resumed the cold and pallid look that first had round it hung ; 
 With a bow d head and pensive look, she left the instrument, 
 As if some hidden, crushing woe, her secret bosom rent ; 
 All eyes were fixed intent on her, that song so strange and sad, 
 Some wondered if so fair a form, a sorrow ever had ; 
 As the deep grandeur of that voice still rung upon the ear, 
 Like some gloomy wind at midnight, so high, so wild, so drear. 
 
 XI. 
 
 A long deep silence followed, till at length Montgomery 
 Approached his wife, who still and fair reclined on a settee, 
 And holding forth his hand, he said, "Come, sing our friends one 
 
 song," 
 
 And quick the wish was seconded, the stately group among ; 
 And then a breathless silence fell upon the expecting band, 
 
62 MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 
 
 So hushed it seemed, their very hearts a moment were at stand ; 
 
 No wonder, for so fair a sight, they ne er before beheld^ 
 
 As o er her gcorgeous harp she bent, her cheeks with roses filled, 
 
 Her eyes were blue and sparkling, like the agitated sea, 
 
 But from their azure depths, there shone a pure serenity, 
 
 And smiles of winning sweetness, o er her polished features crept, 
 
 As her small hand the quivering strings in hesitation swept, 
 
 A stream of gushing melody, flowed from beneath her hand; 
 Again the fingers smote the harp, and strains more high and 
 
 grand 
 
 Burst from the trembling instrument, till every heart stood still, 
 While the echoes of that solemn harp, did through the mansion 
 
 thrill ; 
 
 Then with a firmer, swifter hand, she smote the sounding lyre, 
 Until every ear was ravished, and every heart on fire, 
 As awoke those fragile fingers, the loud triumphant strain, 
 Deep from the mansion s furthest depths, the echoes came again. 
 Then as some golden plumaged bird, which starts the traveller s 
 
 ear 
 
 With strains of gushing melody, then flies away afar, 
 Warbling into distance, till the sweet notes die away, 
 So in a bird-like carol, softly ceased the notes to play ; 
 Her sweet lips slowly opened, and low in a thrilling ode, 
 Her voice eclipsed the melodies that from her harp had flowed. 
 
 
 SONG. 
 
 What is life ? What is life? Tis a present from heaven. 
 That mortals may gaze on this beautiful world, 
 
MINXIE MONTGOMERY. 63 
 
 It is to the soul a resting place given, 
 
 Ere the scenes of Eternity their splendors unfold. 
 
 Tis sin makes us sad, for the heart that is pure 
 
 Has smiles ever mingled with gloom, 
 For One that is able, has promised us sure, 
 
 That for such there s rejoicing beyond the cold tomb. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 A clamor of delight went up, as ceased the gentle lay, 
 And soon the friends departed, for e en then the breaking day 
 Was reddening in the " Golden Gate," announcing that the night, 
 With all her sable votaries had plumed her wings for flight ; 
 All felt that Clay was more than blessed in an accomplished wife. 
 And most, the sorrowing Frances Gray ; she felt the springs ot 
 
 life 
 
 Were dried within her aching heart, for torn with wounded pride, 
 She turned to seek for comfort, in vain on every side, 
 For Clay had been the only man she ever loved sincere, 
 And she could not bear to see his life, with every joy made dear. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 To see desire so gratified, so much of happiness, 
 
 While she was left unheeded, with no smile, with no caress; 
 
 A flood of withering bitterness went flowing through her heart, 
 
 And she saw no ending of her grief, no way she might depart, 
 
 Except twas in her drooping form, and sunken faded cheek, 
 
 Which told in their white outlines, what volumes might not speak ; 
 
 The husky voice, the hacking cough, which rung at every breath, 
 
 Its warning in her bosom like an alarm bell of death; 
 
 All seemed to whisper that ere long her troubles would be o er, 
 
 If happy after death, her soul could find a Lethean shore. 
 
64 MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 
 
 XV. 
 
 Once I watched a patient sufferer, I marked him day by day, 
 As neath consumption s icy breath, he withered slow away, 
 And as the last dread moments neared, his eye did brilliant gleam, 
 And a look of bright intelligence, did on each feature beam. 
 Oh ! tis hard to see a form we love, thus waste into the grave, 
 >Tis hard to feel that hope is o er, that nought on earth can save ; 
 While the loved sufferer droops so slow, and so unconsciously, 
 That earth makes glad the dying voice, and bright the dying eye; 
 Oh ! it needs a mighty confidence, in such an hour, in heaven, 
 When the affections are so blighted, the heart so torn and riven. 
 
CANTO V. 
 
 Let night again o ermantle this fallen, sinful earth, 
 
 The night when wander beasts of prey, when dark thoughts have 
 
 their birth ; 
 
 The time the libertine doth choose to weave his hellish net ; 
 The hour the wanton walks abroad, her victims to beset. 
 
 ii. 
 
 Once more beside each other sit Montgomery and his wife, 
 In loving words conversing, the sweetest, best in life ; 
 They talked of the festival" twas a grand affair "said Clay ; 
 We had the elite of the town, the rich, the proud, the gay : 
 " But you, my wondrous Minnie, you seemed so much above 
 Those creatures that around you, did in silks and jewels move ! 
 And then your song, so beautiful, the high exalted strain, 
 It warbled to the mansion s depths, and echoed back again ; 
 Since the night that we were wedded I never in my life 
 Was so pleased with and so proud of my quiet, modest wife. " 
 
 in. 
 " Oh Clay ! " rejoined the gentle wife " pray hush that flattering 
 
 strain, 
 Or you will make your homely wife grow arrogant and vain, 
 
66 MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 
 
 Such speech perhaps did well enough, when we were girl and boy, 
 When we first dreamed of earnest love, its novelty and joy. 
 But, speaking of the festival, I wish intrinsic worth 
 Stood at a better premium on this poor planet earth ; 
 There s too much of the butterfly, and not enough of brain, 
 Too much of silk and broadcloth, bracelet and diamond chain ; 
 Too little of the honest heart, where affection s fountains keep 
 For ever bubbling softly up, like a cool spring, pure and deep : 
 But then I think the festival indeed a brilliant scene, 
 Fairer women or more noble men seldom meet I ween, 
 And all passed by so pleasantly, the feast, the dance, the song ; 
 All seemed quite glad and satisfied though numerous the throng. 
 But, Clay ! ye moved among those men, as midst his serfs, a King, 
 Or as the eagle midst the larks, with prouder, stronger wing. 
 After all it is not wealth or show that sways the human kind ; 
 Men humbly bow to but one thing : that is a master mind, 
 And when those dark eyes swept the room I saw the proudest 
 
 quail, 
 
 As if far in the secret soul their lustre did prevail ; 
 I felt my whole soul swelling, in just pride and happiness, 
 To see those noble gentlemen your true worth thus confess. " 
 
 IV. 
 
 "Ah! who is flattering now ?" said Clay "my calm and quiet 
 
 bride, 
 
 Pray, what could turn your steady mind in such a strain aside ? " 
 But here a servant entered, and the conversation stayed, 
 And the noble pair were silent, while the man a note displayed ; 
 Clay read the fair note hastily, then said : "The Lady Gray 
 Wishes to consult me, for her husband is away, 
 
MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 6*7 
 
 And she says her little homestead comes neath a landlord s claim 
 Land titles are so doubtful here, men s hearts so void of shame. " 
 His wife replied : "My husband dear, who is this Lady Gray, 
 That comes to ask advice of you ? you re not a lawyer, Clay ! 
 
 v. 
 
 He answered : " Tis the lady, whose silk and gold attire 
 Did your admiration last eve so wondrously inspire ; 
 The lady of the raven eyes, pale brow, and glossy hair, 
 The one that, next to you Minnie, was of the throng most fair ; 
 The one that sang that strange sad song, so beautiful yet drear, 
 While it thrilled our waiting senses, it wrapt each heart with fear: 
 Her husband was my friend, and being absent now from home, 
 I suppose she thought, for counsel, of no better place to come. 
 
 VI, 
 
 U 0h! go, of course," said Minnie, "but, Clay, hasten quickly 
 
 home, 
 
 For I shall count the moments as all weary while you roam ; 
 Now, husband, I will wager you, before you can return, 
 To play this thrilling melody upon the harp I ll learn. 
 And if I win the wager Clay, what Avill you forfeit me ? " 
 U A kiss," he answered " and if not, the kiss I ll claim from 
 
 thee. " 
 
 VII, 
 
 It was not without misgiving Clay left his angel wife, 
 
 And turned his footsteps toward that place with memories so rife ; 
 
 He had not crossed the threshold since that night of high resolve, 
 
 When he determined all his ties of guilt he would dissolve ; 
 
 He entered through the well known gate, and up the winding path, 
 
 Fragrant flowers around him breathed a sweet familiar breath ; 
 
 With hesitating step he treads upon the old door stone, 
 
68 MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 
 
 And he felt a sorrow in his heart almost that he had come ; 
 
 He struck the door-bell, but he wished the sound he might recall, 
 
 As he heard a well known footstep, along the passage fall ; 
 
 And when the front door opened, and a soft voice bade " Come 
 
 in," 
 
 As he noticed by the moonlight that form grown frail and thin, 
 He felt a bitter sadness come upon him at the thought, 
 That by his own imprudence had this change perhaps been 
 
 wrought ; 
 
 But as again her lily hand sought tremblingly his own-, 
 Her eye dilated and her voice resumed its wonted tone, 
 And her own sweet smile of splendor again swept o er her face 
 Till every cloud of sorrow its effulgence thence did chase* 
 
 VIII. 
 
 She spoke : " Kind friend, Montgomery, it grieved me much to ask. 
 You thus to leave your happy home to do for me a task ; 
 Knowing you are so done up in the love of your sweet wife, 
 That every moment you are gone seems a moment lost of life. 
 But I trust I ve not a hard task, I wished for you to read 
 These papers and then give me such counsel as I need. 
 First, to clear your apprehension, take a glass of wine tis weak 
 Full many of my friends of its generous flavor speak. " 
 
 IX. 
 
 Clay tossed the sparkling beverage off, " Tis excellent, " said he, 
 
 " It thrills the life as beauty rare doth captivate the eye. " 
 
 " Tis very harmless too, " said she, " twas sent me by a friend, 
 
 Who lives where broad Ohio doth meanderingly wend ; 
 
 Near to old Cincinnati, the city of my birth, 
 
 The sweetest, dearest city, on this dark, gloomy earth ; 
 
MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 69 
 
 You ll drink one glass with me, I m sure" "Most certainly," 
 
 said Clay, 
 
 " If from that radiant brow of thine twill drive the clouds away. " 
 They touched their brimming glasses and the sparkling beverage 
 
 drank, 
 When Clay resumed : " Say tell me, are you not happy, Frank ? " 
 
 x. 
 
 " I cannot say I am, " said she, " tis very hard to love 
 And feel no answering chord in the worshipped one we move. 
 In my heart a sea of passion doth ever surge and flow, 
 A vast love unrequited, but that is nothing now ; 
 While you read those papers, I ll go hence " but he motioned 
 
 her to wait ; 
 So she paced her splendid parlor, with step proud and sedate. 
 
 xi. 
 
 Clay took the papers nervously and glanced down the page, 
 Meanwhile the poisoned wine in his veins began to rage ; 
 Its thrilling, generous flavor still nestled on his lip, 
 And he stopped instinctively his task, another glass to sip ; 
 Then, as to himself he murmured, "that wine is to the taste 
 As to the eye a garden fair, blooming in some vast waste, 
 Or as to the ear, in lone hours, is music s sweetest tone ; 
 It makes my intellect grow bright, and round me lights are borne ; 
 Visions of boundless splendor, they re swarming in my brain : 
 Sublime as rolling thunders, fair as heaven s starry plain." 
 But Frank is sad, and yet for all she s beautiful as even, 
 When the sun, a world of fire, sinks low in western Heaven, 
 Shining in crimson glory o er the blue and heaving deep, 
 Rolling swiftly its burning beams, in a refulgent sweep, 
 Along the billowy ocean, in waves of glory by, 
 
70 MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 
 
 In floods of splendor lighting up bay, city, hill, and sky ; 
 "Frances, " he added, "tell me now, why is thy brow so sad?" 
 She answered mildly, " Clay, of late, no company I ve had, 
 And having none to talk to, it may be I ve grown reserved, 
 But any tinge of sadness, you have the first observed. 
 
 XII. 
 
 Clay then resumed : " To be alone brings not this mighty change ; 
 Why doth your voice, so sweet before, sound now so har/h and 
 
 strange ? 
 
 Where is the bloom that used to rival crimson on thy cheek ? 
 Where is the smile that in your eye could such a volume speak ? " 
 
 XIII. 
 
 " My poor voice, sweet ! " said Frances Gray, " twas but thine 
 
 echoed back ; 
 
 Your kisses made the roses all that crimsoned on my cheek, 
 My sunny smiles were but thine own reflected from my face, 
 A glass o er which such images no more their pathway trace. " 
 
 XIV. 
 
 But, alas! let s draw a veil around the sin-misguided pair, 
 
 Alas ! that sin should ever dwell in tenements so fair. 
 
 At midnight from that wanton haunt, Clay, bent and reeling 
 
 strode ; 
 
 With haggard look and halting step he wandered down the road ; 
 Frances watched the lessening figure, and wished him pleasant 
 
 dreams, 
 While her shrill laugh of mockery seemed like a maniac s screams. 
 
 xv. 
 
 But let us once again return to Clay s enchanting bride : 
 When Clay, by Frances summoned, had left lingeringly her side, 
 
MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 71 
 
 She approached the open casement to breathe the evening air ; 
 To gaze upon the slumbering earth and sky all burnished fair ; 
 The window o erlooked the Bay, and the moon s rays sweetly 
 
 beamed 
 
 Upon the deep hush d waters, and o er the shipping streamed, 
 While still and beautiful the stars their myriad hosts displayed 
 Like God s bright shining armies on Heaven s vast plain arrayed ; 
 Wrapt with the glowing spectacle she fondly watched the scene ; 
 Bay, city, shipping, coast and hill, bathed in the wondrous sheen, 
 And finally she murmured, though none were nigh to hear, 
 How fair the scene, how beautiful this climate, half the year> 
 Without one cloud to hide from view the radiant azure sky, 
 To cross the pathway of the sun, or moon, or stars, on high ; 
 Without a single shadow s form their bright beams to deface, 
 As they sweep in endless cycles along the fields of space. 
 And then my own great change, so poor one year ago, 
 And now an object unto which the loftiest forms do bow. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 But hush such wicked thoughts, twas not my skill that brought 
 This happy change about, twas my husband s hand that wrought , 
 And heaven s approving smile beamed on his every plan, 
 Heaven that will ever recompense an honest striving man ; 
 I trust I am not vain or proud, save of the love of him, 
 .My peerless husband, for whose love my heart doth ever brim 
 In joy and thankfulness to God who gave me such an one, 
 For companion and protector, while life shall journey on ; 
 And while I have that love, come to me sickness and distress, 
 Come all the dark and bitter things that common lives oppress ; 
 Come slander with thy poisoned tongue, come poverty and toil. 
 Come all that s dreadful to be feared, and with a serpent coil, 
 
72 MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 
 
 Wrap every other pleasure up, I m rich, proud, happy, still, 
 While I feel my image in his breast, its rightful place doth fill. 
 
 XVII. 
 
 But here a low knock at the door broke up the reverie, 
 
 And she turned from the gorgeous scene, slowly and languidly, 
 
 And opening the heavy door a proud tall form came in ; 
 
 She placed a seat before him and bade him there recline. 
 
 As fell the light upon his face, " why Wallace," she exclaimed, 
 
 " I did not know your face at first, so seldom you have deigned 
 
 To call upon us since we lived so lone and quiet here ; 
 
 My husband will be home anon, he is not absent far, 
 
 He will be glad to welcome you." 
 
 The artful man replied : 
 
 I grew so weary of my books this eve, I turned aside ; 
 With all its sombre dingy scenes, I left my dreary room, 
 Half envious of married men, half grumbling at the doom 
 Of a cross, useless bachelor, round whom no young hopes shine, 
 A trunk so blighted and deformed, no ivy will entwine ; 
 And wrapt up in such feelings, I thought of you and Clay, 
 And determined that an hour or two at least I d while away ; 
 So anxious in society s soft beams once more to bask, 
 How much it might afflict you, I did not stop to ask." 
 
 " You would better please us if you would oftener afflict us so," 
 Replied the lovely Minnie, while her cheeks with friendship s glow 
 Grew light, and o er her radiant face there swept the sunny smile ; 
 "My husband will be home ere long, and I must beg meanwhile 
 You will patient wait his coming, he ll rejoice to meet you here, 
 He often calls your name, as one by friendship s ties bound near. 
 
MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 73 
 
 XIX. 
 
 The cunning man replied : 
 
 I trust he is my friend indeed, 
 
 Although I am half jealous that Montgomery should succeed 
 In wedding so much loveliness, while I must wander on, 
 Thus o er the cold and gloomy world, unmated, and alone." 
 Then he added quickly, " Lady, how do you like this land ? 
 Your dwelling seems a fairy haunt, all palace-like and grand." 
 
 xx. 
 
 "It is," said she, " my husbands wish that we should thus reside. 
 And to gratify his wishes, I make my joy and pride ; 
 I little dreamed that I should e er, to such luxuriance come, 
 I should have been quite satisfied with a much plainer home." 
 She continued "I am contented almost always now, 
 With sweetest happiness, my cup of life would overflow, 
 Were it not for thoughts of loving friends I left far behind, 
 (Around whose souls my heart strings are indissolubly twined,) 
 And pangs of anguish which assail at times, my heart so wild, 
 So bitter twas to separate from my unequaled child." 
 
 XXI. 
 
 "Had you a child?" asked Wallace. 
 
 "A precious boy!" said she. 
 " And he is dead ? " he added. 
 
 " Aye, yes ! neath the gloomy sea, 
 
 With ocean s other jewels his bones are whitening now, 
 Fierce billows roll upon his breast, and sea weeds twine his brow." 
 
 XXII. 
 
 "What! died he on the ocean? " 
 
 "Ah, yes! amidst the moan 
 Of crashing waves, as through them, the great ship thundered on; 
 
74 MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 
 
 Midst the sound of creaking timbers, the hoarse and heavy roar 
 Of enginery beneath us, and winds that o er us bore." 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 " Tis very sad," said Wallace ; " but those shafts of Providence, 
 But to pour a mercy in give our hearts such ghastly rents." 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 "I try to think so," she replied ; "but, oh ! it seemed so drear, 
 Those cherub eyes, so dim in death, those hands to grasp the air, 
 Those little limbs to writhe in the strong grasp of agony, 
 Those looks of speechless suffering he beseechingly gave me ; 
 And when in one wild sob, went forth his little soul, 
 Almost a wave of doubt, o er my faith in God did roll." 
 
 xxv. 
 
 "Lady," he answered; " tis the debt, the common debt, we owe, 
 And Xature will demand it despite our pain and woe ; 
 Twill take perhaps, eternity, to prove for what wise end 
 This sorrow was bestowed on thee, that doth your heart so rend." 
 Then for a long hour or more, the subtle man talked on, 
 From fountains of a gifted mind his sweet words smoothly ran ; 
 He talked of all the gorgeous themes that thrill a female s heart, 
 Besieging that fair fortress, with most consummate art ; 
 Honor, devotion, courage, love, intense absorbing themes, 
 His words gushed forth spontaneous, in living, rushing streams. 
 At length he changed the subject: 
 
 " Dear lady, dost thou know, 
 Of all the praises men do here upon thy charms bestow?" 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 " Of all the praises men bestow ? " she answered in surprise, 
 i4 Why men should speak of me at all, I can not realize." 
 
MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 75 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 " Nay, speak not so," said Wallace ; " your praise clogs every 
 
 tongue, 
 The story of your loveliness on every ear is rung." 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 " Oh! hush such words," said Minnie, "they give me grief and 
 
 pain, 
 I was the plainest maiden, in the town from whence I came." 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 "Ah! say not so," said Wallace, "you are a peerless star, 
 
 In brilliancy, the rarest in the firmanent by far ; 
 
 At sight of you my early youth conies back to memory, 
 
 I dream of lore, as when long since, love thrilled my boyhood s 
 
 eye; 
 
 And listen, lady, in this land, a creature fair as you, 
 Ought to deem a lover s claims as well as husbands s due. 
 
 XXX. 
 
 Wild lightnings shot from Minnie s eyes in burning shafts away, 
 
 A fury in her bosom that moment held its sway. 
 
 She shouted : " Stop those hateful words, and when again you 
 
 speak 
 
 Thus like unto a female, unprotected, lone , and weak, 
 May your foul throat be tortured by a quenchless, horrid thirst, 
 And in your venomed mouth, your tongue with its pollutions burst. 
 Where are those cherished principles, you just now boasted of? 
 That path of honor within which your life so strict did move ? 
 Where did you learn those studied words you just now spoke to 
 
 me? 
 I d wager, it was in some haunt of wild debauchery, 
 
76 MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 
 
 I d wager that you spoke them last in some wanton s den of woe, 
 To some lost one from yond the sea, or filthy Mexico." 
 
 XXXI. 
 
 A smile of mockery swept o er the face of Wallace, calm ; 
 " Indeed," said he, " so tiger like, and just now but a lamb ; 
 I never dreamed those lustrous eyes that just now beamed so 
 
 sweet, 
 
 Could kindle up, in passion burn with such a fearful heat ; 
 Be not too rash dear lady, were I to talk to you more plain, 
 Perhaps that mighty tempest might dissolve in bitter rain." 
 
 xxxn. 
 u What mean you now ?" said Minnie, u What plot would you 
 
 conceal, 
 Go on sir, never fear the bitterest to reveal." 
 
 XXXIII. 
 
 Then he softened down his voice to its most winning strain, 
 
 " I never wished," he said, " to give your glorious heart a pain ; 
 
 But that fond heart of thine, so trusting, loyal, true, 
 
 So terribly abused by him who swore to cherish you 
 
 In sickness, and in health, to love till life was o er, 
 
 Pray listen, and believe me, he has a paramour. " 
 
 xxxiv. 
 
 Oh ! dreadful was the anger that gathered on her brow, 
 The roses fled her crimson checks, and left them white as snow ; 
 Her close pressed lips were bloodless, in sobs her breath came 
 
 forth, 
 She seemed to struggle to express the thoughts her heart gave 
 
 birth ; 
 
MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 77 
 
 Her hand extended o er her head, clutched savagely the air, 
 Her bosom heaved tumultuously, her eyes so calm and fair, 
 Gleamed then as doth the panther s, ere he springs upon his prey, 
 Like the condor of the Andes, when a lamb he cloth survey, 
 And she hissed upon his startled ear, " a curse be on your head, 
 Base and despised wretch that thou art, who would thy foul snares 
 
 spread, 
 
 To kindle in confiding hearts, hate, jealousy and wrath y 
 To turn love-guided feet aside to a thorn enwoven path. 
 E en were he guilty, as you say, think you I would give up 
 His glorious image in my soul, and to thy level stoop? 1 
 Then opening the massy door, she ordered him away, 
 In tone so fierce and dignified, he dared not disobey, 
 For those azure eyes shone terrible in their ferocity, 
 Like the lightning on the night, like the typhoon on the sea. 
 
 xxxv. 
 
 The guilty man felt all his wit and trickery was vain, 
 Before so pure a being; his dark plans were broke in twain. 
 Sullen, enraged, and mortified, he left the fair abode 
 With a muttered oath of vengeance, he from the parlor strode. 
 " Vengeance !" said Minnie, scornfully, u if you ve one little spark 
 Of conscience yet remaining in that bosom, cold and dark, 
 Better say, " I ll be avenged if memory e er portray 
 In colors half like life the part ye strove to act to-day." 
 
 xxxvi. 
 
 With beating heart she closed the door, and sunk on a settee, 
 And with her rushing thoughts for a time kept company, 
 And the scenes of the past hours so improbable did seem, 
 She thought she was asleep, and prayed to waken from the dream ; 
 
78 MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 
 
 But the harsh word, so horrid sad, still rung upon her brain, 
 And her bright faculties almost seemed at the thought to wane ; 
 For she for a long hour reclined, as motionless and still, 
 As a fixed rock of ages fast enthroned upon some hill. 
 
 XXXVII. 
 
 A soft knock broke the heavy spell that locked her half stunned 
 
 mind, 
 
 And opening the folding door, gazed wonderingly, to find 
 Her own domestic standing there, and panting in distress, 
 As if some mighty toil upon his manly heart did press ; 
 This servant was a youth, deformed in body and in mind, 
 A mingling strange, of sternness and tenderness combined ; 
 His face was ever pale and sad, but in the deep gray eye 
 There was a depth and earnestness, which told a soul did lie 
 In that bent, crippled body, that could illy brook to stay 
 Bowed down in such a blighted and helpless frame of clay. 
 He entered silently the room, sunk on a waiting seat, 
 Then turned a fixed and softened gaze on Minnie s features sweet; 
 Long sat he there regarding her while she in mute surprise, 
 Sat still and trembling neath the gleam of those deep soul lit 
 
 eyes. 
 
 At length his thin lips opened, his voice was low and sad, 
 And yet its tone so earnest, a thrill of feeling had. 
 " Lady," he said, " I trust you will my entering thus forgive, 
 But a history of some slight events, I wished to-night, to give. 
 May be twill be of interest to one as fair as you, 
 Though it be told by one like me, all hideous to view, 
 And me in part the theme ; my memory journeys back 
 Through boyhood and childhood, a strange, sad, fearful track. 
 The first word I did ever hear (methinks twas in a dream, 
 
MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 70 
 
 And though I comprehended not, still dreadful it did seem,) 
 Told me I was an orphan, that not one in all the earth 
 Knew of my name or parentage, from whence I took my birth ; 
 I grew up in a hospital, they called me Homer there, 
 Because I loved so well the book he wrote of Illion s war ; 
 Thus wore the heavy days and years of childhood slow away, 
 And from the dismal dawn of life there broke a gloomier day ; 
 Alone, I wandered through the world, with none for company, 
 Except the birds, the trees, the flowers and pitying stars on high. 
 The winds were my companions, I knew their songs of woe, 
 When, in the dim, deep midnight, they on my brow would blow ; 
 Great Nature was my mother, and as I older grew, 
 I learned to hate my fellow. man, and finally withdrew, 
 Beyond their habitations, and wandered far away, 
 For I had heard in the far West a paradise there lay, 
 Where, neath an ever azure sky, the world in beauty slept ; 
 Where men lived not to hoard up gold, where orphans never 
 
 wept. 
 
 And then I wandered, day by day; above me was the sky, 
 Around a wilderness of flowers did ever greet my eye ; 
 And when the great red burning sun had gone away to rest, 
 Amidst those flowers I would sink down, and Oh ! so sweetly rest; 
 Above me, as I sank to sleep, I saw the stars soft light, 
 And the voices of the breezes would whisper low, " good night. " 
 But at length one morn I could not rise, I felt no actual pain, 
 But an unnatural heaviness seemed pressing on my brain ; 
 My limbs refused to bear me up, and through my frame a chill 
 Seemed every avenue of life with its cold frost to fill. 
 How long I lay I cannot tell I saw the sun on high ; 
 I saw the full red harvest moon look pitying from the sky, 
 
80 MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 
 
 And then the lamp of life went out, well nigh in utter night, 
 Scarce on the shores of being stayed yet a spark of light, 
 When a stranger found me by the way and bore me to his tent, 
 And o er me like a mother for days and weeks he bent, 
 And wrestled with the enemy that round life s citadel 
 Seemed for weeks to hold his legions to storm the feeble wall ; 
 At length I slow recovered, a bowed, decrepid thing, 
 Withered by the beatings of the grim foe s dusky wing ; 
 My preserver was your husband, and then I prayed to live, 
 Until some slight reward for such kindness I could give ; 
 And then, that I might sleep the sleep that knows no move, 
 Until the ransomed spirit sees the morn of Heaven breaking ; 
 A few months since a new sweet light made radiant this home, 
 Across the great blue oceans you softly, gently come ; 
 Often I ve gazed into your face and wondered if above, 
 There was one favored seraph more divine, more fit to love ; 
 I thought no mortal tongue could wound a nature pure as thine, 
 Where every virtue, every grace, seem pleased to intertwine. 
 But here, to-night, I heard a wretch defame thy holy ear, 
 And on my dried and shrivelled cheek I felt a scalding tear ; 
 And when you spurned him from your sight I thought it all 
 
 would bring, 
 
 A duel, and perhaps, a death, a sad and horrid thing. 
 And noiseless following in his path, neath the shade of that 
 
 tall row 
 
 Of huge and massive buildings, I aimed a certain blow v ; 
 But still twas not a murder, I bade him to beware, 
 That there was danger brooding in that thick and silent air ; 
 Thrice blazed his weapon in my face, thrice through my matted 
 
 hair 
 
MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 81 
 
 I felt the leaden missive on its erring message tear ; 
 
 I know not all that happened, we two were there alone, 
 
 And as I turned away methought I heard a shriek and groan. " 
 
 XXXVIII. 
 
 So stunned was Minnie at the tale, twas a moment ere her brain 
 Gould all the dreadful story of th^e solemn man contain. 
 " Oh ! Homer, " gasped she, tis a fearful deed thou hast done, 
 A fearful risk, for those you love, poor creature thou hast run, 
 But go now, quickly, possibly the man may not be slain, 
 May be, on the cold pavement, he suffers awful pain ; 
 His is a dreadful crime indeed, but vengeance is not thine, 
 At least mercy with justice we forever must entwine ; 
 Get you a servant quickly and bear him from the street, 
 And till his wants are all supplied walk not with sluggish feet. 
 
 xxxix. 
 
 He answered: "As I journeyed home, I heard behind a cry, 
 And looking back I saw, from where I left the man to die, 
 Four men bear something on a bier; much care he will not crave, 
 Except a shroud and coffin, a funeral and a grave, 
 And afterward a monument, to tell of all his worth : 
 His tenderness, his wisdom, and his virtues on the earth. " 
 
 XL. 
 
 Sorely was Minnie troubled, as thus the man talked on, 
 And she said, "I am so sorry for the deed that you have done, 
 But, as it is, go to your room, and whisper not a word 
 Of the history of this night, what you have done or heard. " 
 
 XLI. 
 
 The man obeyed, and, left alone, again she bowed her head 
 And o er a burning pathway her troubled thoughts she led ; 
 
82 MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 
 
 Waiting, sadly, for her absent lord, till on her startled ear 
 The tolling of the midnight clock fell plaintively and drear. 
 
 XLII. 
 
 " Why don t he come ? " she murmured, " tis past the midnight 
 
 hour, 
 
 And he is absent still. Alas ! what if some evil power 
 Should find him on the morrow stretched on his cruel bier, 
 And I, alone and helpless. Oh ! Heaven, in pity spare ; 
 Oh ! spare my husband to me, take honors, wealth and all ; 
 Leave me my husband and his love I will not mind the fall. " 
 
 XLIII. 
 
 -A step fell on the door sill : " But wherefore fears, " said she, 
 . "I know that blessed step, and joy comes back to me. " 
 Then she opened, with a bound, the door, and eager clasped his 
 
 arm, 
 
 And smilingly pressed upon his lips a welcome sweet and warm : 
 " Oh ! I m so glad, " she murmured then stopped and anguished 
 
 stood, 
 
 While to her freezing heart ebbed slowly back the blood, 
 For that husband answered not her words, her kiss, or beaming 
 
 smile, 
 . But commenced, in broken strains, to sing a song of Bacchus vile : 
 
 Then drink, drink my boys, while the dark night shall last, 
 Make joyful the hours that in darkness are past ; 
 Midst earth s other pleasures, tis forever above; 
 There s mirth in the wine cup, there s music and love. 
 
 
MINNIE MONTGOMERY, 83 
 
 XLIV. 
 
 Poor Minnie clasped her burning brow, her heart grew faint and 
 
 cold, 
 
 The awful frost of anguish in her bosom had its hold ; 
 She kneeled upon the carpet, and her sweet lips moved in prayer 
 That Heaven, forever merciful, would her erring husband spare. 
 Meanwhile the drunken husband entered his fair abode, 
 With bloodshot eye and reeling form he o er his threshold strode ; 
 He seized the evening paper, then fierce and angry swore 
 The printers all were drunk, and then the paper madly tore ; 
 He said the words were so arranged they did no sense express, 
 And then declared no sober man could read so vile a mess, 
 Then told his wife he wished to dance and bade her go and play, 
 Saying he hoped she d not forgot the promise to " obey. " 
 
 XLV, 
 
 Slowly she rose, round his neck her white arms flung, 
 
 And to his bosom fondly, yet sorrowingly clung; 
 
 * Husband, " she murmured, " husband, my heart beats but for 
 
 you, 
 
 Oh ! tell me, are you ill to-night what can I, shall I do ? "4 
 But we need not stop to count her tears, or watch her anguished 
 
 soul, 
 
 Or tell what bitter currents did through her wrung heart roll. 
 All night she watched beside the bed where, drunk, her husband 
 
 lay, 
 And still beside that couch she sat when broke the golden day. 
 
 XLVI. 
 
 Twas late, on that bright morning, when Clay Montgomery woke, 
 And the memory of his shame and sin upon his senses broke ; 
 
&4 MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 
 
 Close by his side his angel wife was weeping bitterly, 
 And, when he called back all his shame, he prayed that he might die. 
 " Oh ! Minnie, " said he " Minnie, look not so sad, I pray ; 
 Oh ! that I ne er had wakened up to view this wretched day ; 
 Oh ! dry those tears, I pray you, my poor, afflicted wife, 
 Twasthe first time, and I solemn swear tis the last time in my life. 1 
 
 XLVIU 
 " Oh ! my dear husband, " answered she, " all earth looks sad 
 
 to-day, 
 Yon burning sun-beams seem but blood, and, tracing back their 
 
 way, 
 
 They seem all to originate in a great fount of wine, 
 And round the curb grim devils dance with many a horrid sign. " 
 
 XLVIII. 
 " You break my heart, " Montgomery said, ^iet not your fevered 
 
 brain 
 
 Bring forth such fearful visions as those dreadful words contain ; 
 Forgive me, Minnie, but this once, and, by yon Heaven, I swear, 
 My faults shall ne er again bring to your azure eyea a tear. " 
 
 XLXI, 
 
 Sadly, she answered: " From that vice, Oh! fly, as from an asp, 
 Whose sting is past all remedy, whose charms few can unclasp ; 
 Fly from it for your happiness, your health, your very life, 
 Aye, e en your soul is jeopardized, with every curse tis rife. n 
 
 L. 
 
 u I feel all, " said the guilty man. " I was a brute last night ; 
 Had you chained me, in my frenzy, you would have served me 
 right. 
 
MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 85 
 
 But, pray, dear Minnie, dry those tears, they blast me like the air 
 That blows from burning Africa o er Europe s rallies fair ; 
 Dear angel wife, forgive, I pray, this vile, but first, offense, 
 And for my crime your heart shall ne er be made to bleed from 
 hence. " 
 
 LI. 
 
 " No, Clay, 1 replied the loving wife, "you know we can t forgive 
 Until we are offended, and as long as you may live 
 You ne er can offend me. It is true, a few returns 
 Of yester eve would crush this heart, that unto you so yearns, 
 But never, never, could produce one bitter .thought from me, 
 Or check my yearning heart s intense, unbounded love for thee ; 
 For your dear sake I will forget last evening s dread events, 
 And with love s gentlest "bandage strive to bind your heart s vast 
 rents." 
 
 LII. 
 
 " You are the noblest wife, 1 said Clay, " that man did e er possess, 
 And when again unto these lips this hand that cup shall press, 
 That fired my ferain with such a hell last night, and clothed your 
 
 brow 
 
 With clouds, whose shadows linger on its pale outline now, 
 May it be withered in that hour. " " Oh ! thank you, dearest 
 
 Clay, 
 
 I ll trust you, " said the peerless wife, " but O ! each golden ray, 
 This morn, from yonder world of light, that fair did yester fall 
 No more are bright or gorgeous, they have lost their beauty all, 
 And yonder soft and peaceful Bay, whose water s murmuring roar 
 Seemed a seraph s anthem last eve, as they broke upon the shore, 
 Now echoes back as sad and harsh, as did the billows hoarse, 
 
86 MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 
 
 That howled in gloom and mockery above our Infant s corse. 
 But I ll trust you, husband dear, for you have promised me. " 
 And then around his neck she wound her arms confidingly ; 
 Their lips pressed to each other s, and in that short moment s bliss, 
 All theirsorrows were forgotten in love and tenderness. 
 
 LIII. 
 
 The morning journals of that day contained a vivid tale : 
 How, on the street, the previous night, some ruffians did assail 
 One of the worthiest citizens, who would no doubt have died 
 Had not the " vigilant Police n the murderers scared aside. 
 When Homer read the history r he smiled a quiet smile, 
 And the prudent public sighed, that robbers fierce and vile 
 Should openly and boldly their very streets infest ; 
 The woe of San Francisco Phosnix city of the West- 
 
CANTO VI. 
 
 i. 
 
 Twas night again Montgomery s wife was in her parlor fair, 
 
 A proud, sedate, heroic form was closeted with her there; 
 
 Twas Captain Thorn, the gallant man, the gifted officer, 
 
 And humble were the glances that he lifted up>to her. 
 
 He spoke : "I have long wished the hour I might thus honored be; 
 
 " I have long wished," continued he " to spend an hour with thee ; 
 
 But something has prevented all my efforts till to-night, 
 
 And even now, from some good friends, I had to take my flight ; 
 
 "You have I think," he added, ""been here for half a year or 
 
 more, 
 How seems it, dark or pleasant,, now, on this far western shore ?" 
 
 ii. 
 
 " I am delighted/ she replied, "-such climate and such skies, 
 Such sunny days, such splendid nights, when the stars gorgeous 
 
 rise ; 
 Such lib ral soil, such mines of wealth, such mountains grand and 
 
 old, 
 
 Such flow ring plains, such scenery as hills and vales unfold ; 
 Methinks no other land can boast a second Italy, 
 The richest, rarest gem v in all the Union galaxy.. 
 
88 MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 
 
 III. 
 
 " You seem to love," said Thorn, " its clime, its soil, its scenery, 
 What think you of another thing I mean, society?" 
 
 IV. 
 
 " Ah ! that is quite another thing," she answered with a sigh, 
 " The fearless thought, the open soul, the generosity, 
 The ample hearts, the friendly hands of California men, 
 Their love of genius, scorn of forms, I praise, shall praise again ; 
 The native greatness of their souls, their zeal and enterprise, 
 With a thousand other noble traits, I constant love and praise. 
 But yet, in character, rnethinks there s something wanting still, 
 All seem too willing to suspect their neighbors may do ill, 
 And too oft on good foundation are those suspicions built, 
 As this land excels in beauty, I fear it does in guilt." 
 
 v. 
 
 " I had a home," continued she, " away beyond the deep, 
 Where sisters, brothers dwell, where my parents ashes sleep ; 
 And though for long months o er that land do winter tempests 
 
 blow, 
 
 Though half the long, long weary year, is wrapt in frost and snow; 
 Though my home was there an humble one, and humble still my 
 
 lot; 
 
 Though here I am rich and honored, think you that home s forgot ? 
 No! Virtue there was honored, justice reverenced and obeyed, 
 And the man was derided when from duty s path he strayed ; 
 Sir, tis hard for me to dwell here, and here I could not die, 
 For all my young affections still around that loved spot lie ; 
 People here almost seem to dwell with hat and mantle on, 
 And staff in hand, eager to go, when a little more is done." 
 
MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 89 
 
 VI. 
 
 u That love of home is strong," said Thorn, " oft on the lonely sea, 
 In dreams I ve been again beneath the old Magnolia tree ; 
 Where passed in happiness my life, when I, a thoughtless boy, 
 Believed the world before me but a long bright stream of joy ; 
 Ere I learned that storms and tempest the bark of life must brave, 
 Before at last Death furls its sails and moors it in the grave. 
 That cold and dreadful haven, on the shores of endless night, 
 From out whose mysterious shelter, no sail e er hove in sight, 
 To bring a memorandum of the currents and the tides, 
 Through which the gloomy pilot the trembling spirits guides." 
 
 VII. 
 
 " Lady," he continued, " in this land, with you, the hours 
 Have passed in sunshine, and your feet have ever trod onfloweis. 
 All that wealth and cultivated taste could give, have been bestowed 
 
 on thee, 
 
 Your life has been a constant feast, an endless luxury ; 
 How terrible would be the fate to fall from that high place, 
 And behold toil, suffering and want, cold, stare you in the face. 
 That fate is hanging o er you now, your husband is no moro 
 The millionaire of yesterday, by his own folly s poor. 
 He is no longer worthy of a wife so fair as yon. 
 Now listen for a moment, since first your charms I knew 
 A storm of passion has assailed my fiery throbbing breast ; 
 Gone is my young heart s quiet, I have no longer rest ; 
 Gone are my dreams of glory, give me no honor more 
 Than to kneel here at your feet and your heavenly charms adore ; 
 Long wrestled I with passion, but love o er-mastered me ; 
 I should have pined in silence, but now that poverty, 
 With icy hand is knocking e en at your very door, 
 
90 MINNIE MONTGOMERY, j 
 
 I thought this tale of passion in your startled ear to pour ; 
 I beseech you to fly with me, I sail at ebbing tide, 
 My noble ship shall bear you in safety and in pride ; 
 When the morning breaks in crimson upon the eastern sea 
 Its mighty guns in thunder tones shall give salute to thee, 
 And when sweet twilight softly glows transparent on the brine 
 Low music shall float around thee and in thy heart-chords twine ; 
 Come with me, Oh, coine with me, my joy, my life, my love ; 
 Gome from poverty and grief to where streams of pleasure move. " 
 
 Till. 
 
 A pallor, for a moment brief, spread o er those features fair 
 
 Of the troubled, anxious Minnie, and one sad, scalding tear 
 
 Sparkled in her azure eye, and trickled down her cheek, 
 
 And for one bitter moment she strove in vain to speak ; 
 
 At length she cried, "rash, thoughtless man, what, where didst 
 
 thou see 
 One look or word of mine to cause this shameful act in thee. " 
 
 IX. 
 
 44 Your every look, your every word, " the fiery man replied, 
 Doth captivate, they turn my brain and throbbing heart aside ; 
 Oh ! fly with me to my good ship, twill bear you far from here, 
 Where flowers and summer bind the earth in one eternal year ; 
 Til fill your every dream with bliss, I ll feast you on such joy, 
 I ll mix your every cup with love unmingled with alloy ; 
 All that s in nature beautiful, or learning rare can bring, 
 Where poetry and music do their sweetest measures sing ; 
 I ll build in rich magnificence for thee a golden bower, 
 And be an ever faithful slave to guard my beauteous flower. " 
 And as his words of passion wild, the rash niun did repeat, 
 He humbly and beseechingly kneeled at the lady s feet. 
 
MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 91 
 
 X. 
 
 With mingled pity and contempt, she sternly bade him rise : 
 
 " Rise, sir, and cease these foolish words, so wicked and unwise : 
 
 Shame, Captain, Ob, for shame, for shame, take off that dangling 
 
 sword, 
 
 Throw by those golden epaulettes, until you are restored 
 Once more back to your reason, now you shame your very sex, 
 Thus cringing like a spaniel, a woman weak to vex ; 
 A sorrowing, helpless female, whose only boast has been 
 She has a husband full worthy enough to wed a queen ; 
 Sir, are you not a gallant knight, acting a hero s part, 
 Beseiging the frail fortress of a poor, weak woman s heart, 
 Whose only garrison is love, and that is all from here 
 With my beloved husband, who doth little know how fair 
 A scene his poor wife s seeing acted. Captain, for shame, for shame,. 
 I blush for your profession, for your honor and your name ; 
 You have abused, disgraced them all ; still in my burning ear 
 Thy dreadful words are ringing shrill, their hateful tones I hear ; 
 No more the soldier, seaman ; to a pirate thou dost change, 
 You are striving now confiding hearts forever to estrange. 
 To rob a husband of a wife, a wife s heart to remove 
 From the idol of her maiden soul, the husband of her love, 
 From him who stands by other men as stands some beauteous pine 
 Beside the reeds, and thorns, and briars, that round its strong roots 
 
 twine. " 
 
 Ashamed, the brave, but erring man, arose and strode away, 
 Yet paused, the beauteous creature, for one moment to survey. 
 
 XI. 
 
 " Lady, " he said, " with me is wealth, and love, and luxury ; 
 From henceforth,, with thy husband, all is gloom and poverty. " 
 
92 MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 
 
 XII. 
 
 " What then, sir, is the duty of a faithful wife? " said she, 
 " The sunny side of life to share, and fly adversity ? 
 Or is it to shed around her home a smile of such sweet love 
 That with its sunlight softness it shall all the clouds remove, 
 Without one harsh upbraiding word, to comfort the distress 
 That on her husband s heart doth so cold and heavy press 
 Till he shall feel at length he has a treasure left, 
 Supremely higher than the one of which he is bereft, 
 Till finally that sunny smile shall thaw the bosom s frost, 
 And in his joy he shall forget the rusty coin he s lost. " 
 
 XIII. 
 
 A moment, Thorn fixed gazed on her, and then subdued ex 
 claimed : 
 
 " Thy fair form doth but emblem the soul within contained ; 
 Thou beautiful and matchless one, with heart of angel worth, 
 Thine equal treads no pathway upon all this sordid earth ; 
 May God your angel loveliness and innocence protect, 
 Here on this shore of evil where so many hearts are wrecked. " 
 Then bursting from the room, on the murmuring breeze there fell 
 Those plaintive words of parting : Farewell, for e er farewell. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 Oft times tis said, in tropic climes, the world in beauty sleeps, 
 The orange and the palm trees wave, the wandering ivy creeps ; 
 The tenderest flowers are blooming, the softest verdure glows ; 
 The genial breeze, that fans the world, bears fragrance where it 
 
 blows ; 
 
 The world in child-like peace doth rest and calm is nature s face, 
 No signs of inward struggling could mortal glances trace, 
 When below, in nature s bosom, do earthquakes growl and lift, 
 
MINNIE MONTGOMERY. $& 
 
 And the mighty earth s foundations are to their centre reft ; 
 The rocks of ages melt and boil, and earth doth throb and sigh, 
 While above bloom softest flowers, and smiles an azure sky. 
 
 xv. 
 
 Fit emblem of that lady, as she on her chair reclined, 
 The saddening scenes of the last hour went rushing through her 
 
 mind, 
 
 There was a dreadful paleness spread upon her classic brow 
 And her blue eyes had a lustre unnatural in them now ; 
 But the face was calm as marble, like some sculptor s chaste 
 
 design, 
 
 When he would on alabaster some angel s face enshrine ; 
 But bitter through her anguished heart did counter currents pour, 
 She called the past hour s strange words in succession o er and 
 
 o er; 
 
 And torn with sad and harrowing thoughts, she waited the return 
 Of him toward whom her heart ne er for an instant ceased to 
 
 yearn ; 
 
 The father of her buried boy, the husband she did choose, 
 When suitors thronged her ears with vows few maidens could 
 
 reluse. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 That husband was not idle ; pacing slowly down the street, 
 Leonard, the subtle doctor, he came perchance to meet ; 
 Who drew him from the busy throng, and asked him if he knew 
 It was indeed a dangerous thing, where females were so few, 
 To have so fair a wife as his. " Why ?" bluntly answered Clay, 
 " Do I understand the climate here is bad in any way ?" 
 "Pooh! " returned Leonard quickly, " twas not the clime I had 
 
94 MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 
 
 Tell me what certain proof thou hast thy wife is true to you." 
 Montgomery s eye flashed living fire. "What proof have I," 
 
 said he, 
 
 " That the bright sun, that sunk this evening in the emerald sea, 
 Was pure ? Did not its last rays flash all gloriously back, 
 Illumining with splendor rare his long and crimson track? 
 And do not my sweet wife s eyes burn with purer, brighter ray, 
 Than e en on clearest evening does the glorious god of day ? 
 How often have I marked it well, when in our fireside talk, 
 We have the vices mentioned that here unbridled stalk, 
 Her gentle, modest eye, and brow, with indignation flame, 
 Her pallid cheek redden and burn, suffused with honest shame." 
 
 XVII. 
 
 " Wert sure twas honest?" Leonard asked; u the ocean has a 
 
 bound, 
 
 The weight of the thin viewless air is to a scruple found, 
 There s scarce in secret Nature left a single mystery, 
 Except a subtle woman s skill to hide duplicity. " 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 Clay answered, coldly : " We are told that angels fell from Heaven, 
 That our first parents found in sin were from their Eden driven. 
 But my unequalled, matchless wife is higher far than they ; 
 Like the Andes loftiest summit, towering sublime away 
 Beyond the clouds or storms of earth, or strife of elements ; 
 Beyond where lightnings flash and play, or the blast its fury 
 
 vents ; 
 
 Beyond the condor s loftiest flight, far off above decay ; 
 Beyond where mortal creatures breathe, where ne er a cloud doth 
 
 stray. 
 
MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 95 
 
 Clear and unchangeable, while time rolls on his ponderous car, 
 So above the drifting things of earth she stands serene afar; 
 Her angel soul is fixed on Heaven, her angel heart is mine. 
 When in sleep she doth at midnight her senses most resign, 
 E en then she mingles in her dreams my name in tones of love ; 
 She s mine, nor can your hellish plots my confidence remove. " 
 
 XIX. 
 
 " Enough! " the haughty Leonard spake, " chafe not &o harshly, 
 
 sir, 
 Your wife is falser than our hopes ; tis clearly proved on her. " 
 
 xx. 
 
 All Montgomery s smothered anger now in a wild storm burst 
 
 forth, 
 He grasped the strong man in his hands, and dashed him to the 
 
 earth ; 
 
 Then loathing spurned him with his foot, and fiercely, in his ear, 
 He hissed a curse a demon might tremble almost to hear, 
 And with mind raging, as before it never raged in life, 
 He forsook him and turned away to seek his home and wife. 
 
 XXI. 
 
 He entered the parlor door, ere his Minnie heard his step, 
 Then toward him with a joyful step exulting she did leap ; 
 She wound her white arms round him, softly kissed his sunburnt 
 
 face, 
 While from the fountains of her eyes their way did hot tears 
 
 trace. 
 
 Astonished at her conduct strange, he gently stroked her brow, 
 And besought her to tell him what griefs did her heart so strong 
 
 o erflow. 
 
96 MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 
 
 XXII. 
 
 "Oh! Clay," she answered, with a sigh, "alas! I m troubled 
 
 sore; 
 Would we were in our first home still, e en though we were so 
 
 poor; 
 
 This land is a false, guilty land, a gilded curse at best ; 
 That while the eager hand hoards gold, the spirit has no rest. 
 A few weeks since, one evening, I was sitting here alone, 
 You had left my side an hour before, on some business gone, 
 When a man of fame and talent called, he was, besides, your friend, 
 I welcomed him as such, and thought a pleasant hour to spend ; 
 But ere he had been one hour here, he said such words of ehame, 
 That to repeat them almost would a virtuous life defame ; 
 I cannot tell you all he said, one thing I will recall, 
 He said a lover had some claim, a husband had not all. " 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 " Who was the man ? " Montgomery asked, " 0, Minnie, tell me 
 
 why 
 This horrid thing within your heart you let a secret lie. " 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 " Patience, " said Minnie, " patience, Clay, listen a moment more ; 
 Homer, the servant, happened to that moment pass the door, 
 And heard the man s insulting words, and following in his path, 
 O ertook him in an alley, and stabbed him near to death ; 
 Perhaps you may remember how a rich, accomplished man 
 Was carried dying to his home, slain by a robber clan. " 
 
 XXV. 
 
 " Wallace ! by Heaven! Clay exclaimed" The same, " his wife 
 replied ; 
 
MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 97 
 
 " I thought the punishment enough, so passed the thing aside, 
 Thinking I would not trouble you with the unhappy tale ; 
 But here, to-night, another strove with soft words to prevail, 
 Yes, here, to-night, another man, handsome, distinguished, learned, 
 Declared how to your homely wife, his heart intensely yearned ; 
 First he told me you were bankrupt, Clay, then, on bended knee, 
 He vowed, in love s intensest terms, his tenderness for me ; 
 ! Clay, I pray thee take me back to our first home so plain ; 
 Let us repair our little cot and live in peace again. " 
 
 "Who was it, Minnie, here to-night?" Montgomery musing 
 
 asked, 
 Twas one, she answered, that beneath your friendship long has 
 
 basked ; 
 
 Twas Captain Thorn, the officer you thought so highly of. " 
 "Can it be possible ! " said he, " that Thorn should traitor prove ? 
 But he told you I was bankrupt ; can you such tidings bear, 
 Can you again the fearful sting of poverty endure, 
 Wouldst not be wretched and distressed had you again in view 
 A home of such simplicity as first I bore you to ? " 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 "Dear husband, wilt believe me ? when he told me, I was glad, 
 For I thought I could interpret then, why, of late, thou dst been 
 
 so sad ; 
 
 You feared to tell your poor wife you had been unfortunate ; 
 Is makes us equal once again ; back in our native State, 
 "Were we not very wealthy, Clay, when every day we toiled, 
 When for the very bread we ate our hands were browned and 
 
 soiled ; 
 
 8 
 
98 MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 While though no gold and silver did our treasury possess, 
 Twas filled overflowing full with love and sweetest happiness. " 
 " We were happy" answered Clay " but we re not quite bank 
 rupt yet ; 
 
 That night I drank the poisoned wine and did so drunken get 
 A subtle villain enticed me within a gambler s den, 
 He ever envied me my wealth, he hoped my ruin then ; 
 In a measure he succeeded, and had not a generous man 
 Led me almost perforce away he had finished his dark plan ; 
 As tis, I have a fortune left, which in this city few 
 Can boast, though princely fortunes here drop on men like the 
 
 dew, 
 But true, the thoughts of my disgrace, the dread twould reach 
 
 your ears, 
 I erant has caused me many a pang, and many bitter fears. 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 "Oh Clay, " she said, " twas wrong to keep this small event from 
 
 me, 
 
 For secrets cause suspicion, and suspicion jealousy, 
 And jealousy, when firmly fixed, has ne er uprooted been ; 
 It stands the hardiest plant in all the noxious soil of sin. 
 
 XXX. 
 
 " Well, " resumed Montgomery, "I have more to tell you still, 
 The man, to-night, who took my gold, strove all my peace to 
 
 kill ; 
 
 Envying me my joy he strove my heart to change toward thee ; 
 He told me that my best beloved, my wife, was false to me. 
 
 XXXI. 
 
 " Oh ! Clay, what did you answer him ? " the anguished woman 
 gasped, 
 
 
MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 99 
 
 " What did I answer him, " said Clay, " the villain s throat I 
 
 clasped ; 
 
 I dashed him on the pavement, with my foot his carcass spurned, 
 And stunned his ear with a great curse, then from him loathing 
 
 turned. " 
 * You did not, then, believe him, Clay? " at length she weeping 
 
 said. 
 
 " Believe him ! " said Montgomery, " I ll tell you how I did : 
 I told him our first parents sinned, from Heaven did angels fall, 
 But that my Minnie s heart was pure and steadfast over all. " 
 " Thanks, oh, thanks, my only love, you did trust me, " she re 
 plied, 
 
 Then, half hysterically, she clung about his neck and cried. 
 Never, by love, with firmer bonds had confiding hearts been tied, 
 And while they thought, they both rejoiced their faith had thus 
 been tried. 
 
 XXXII. 
 
 First, spoke the wife : " Husband, you know our school books 
 
 used to tell 
 
 Of rocks that had upon them fixed impressions perfect still 
 Of reptiles feet that trod on them, in some forgotten day, 
 While yet the earth was fair and young, and the tough rocks but 
 
 clay ; 
 
 Thus, husband, is my heart, though it be callous, hard and cold, 
 Unwilling other impressions either to receive or hold, 
 Still it only makes thy image there more fixed, more secure ; 
 Aye, yes, whilst this poor body lasts, its hold is steadfast, sure, 
 And Heaven, the last, long hoped for home, would be a dreary 
 
 place 
 Could not while there my spirit eyes behold thy spirit face. " 
 
100 MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 
 
 " Thank you, " said Clay, " my angel wife, thou art all that I could 
 
 ask; 
 
 I hope long years yet on this earth in those" sunny eyes to bask ; 
 But I dreamed last night we were dead, that arm in arm we trod 
 Upon the golden streets above, in the Paradise of God, 
 The sound of harps was in my ear, seraphs were thronging high, 
 But thy voice was sweeter than the song, and to my partial eye 
 Thy spirit still more beautiful than the fairest ones that move, 
 With angelic grace and beauty through the azure courts above. * 
 
 XXXIII. 
 
 Thus they talked as wore the evening, let us leave them happy 
 
 there ; 
 
 Let us leave them and toward Leonard a little while repair ; 
 He had quickly recovered from Clay s tremendous blow, 
 And he ground his teeth in bitter wrath and smote his burning 
 
 brow, 
 
 And he swore an awful oath, that by his hopes of Heaven 
 Clay should die that the black deed should ne er be forgiven ; 
 He brushed from off his garments rich the foul dust of the street, 
 Then hastened up a winding stairs, some trusty friend to meet ; 
 Twas an editor s abode he sought, a much distinguished man, 
 One who made it his fixed duty the peoples faults to scan. 
 Leonard entered hastily his sanctum, and found him seated there 
 Striving an editorial for his paper to prepare. 
 
 xxxiv. 
 The evening s compliments were passed, when Leonard quickly 
 
 told 
 
 His angry tale, while o er his face dark clouds of passion rolled, 
 And finally he said : " Will you bear to him from me 
 
 A challenge, for I cannot rest till his stiff ning corse I see. " 
 
 
 
MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 101 
 
 XXXV. 
 
 " Why Leonard, " said the editor, " dost thou so soon forget 
 How I praised you last whiter for the speech you did beget ; 
 You remember, twas a labor d speech, and a labor d puff I gave ; 
 I called you, as its author, a statesman, learned and grave ; 
 One who had his country s welfare a landmark in his view, 
 You know the theme was duelling, and you know how dark a 
 
 hue, 
 
 You gave the person s heart and mind, who should participate 
 In a thing so terrible to homes, so baleful to a State ; 
 And Leonard, will you now offend the very law you made ? 
 Will you let forth the evil stream your strong arm partly stayed ?" 
 
 xxxvi. 
 
 Leonard replied, emphatically, " Oh ! stop that moral strain, 
 And tell me, will you help me ? or must I try again ?" 
 
 XXXVII. 
 
 " Oh! yes," said he, "Til help you, but it is too late to-night, 
 Walt till morning, and the message I ll bear at early light." 
 
 XXXVIII. 
 
 44 Thank you, Lewis, that is like you," said Leonard smilingly, 
 "Your editorial, like my speech, was full of policy; 
 Good night, now, when you return, leave me the answer given, 
 I hope this hour to-morrow will find the thing made even." 
 Thus they parted that night, Leonard with mind all passion 
 
 tossed, 
 And Lewis gazing in his grate in meditation lost. 
 
CANTO VII. 
 
 i. 
 
 Morning again in purple robes appeared upon the east r 
 
 And bound the sun, a golden gem, upon her radiant breast ; 
 
 Her rosy garments flowing wide, fell over all the sky, 
 
 And her crimson mantle trailing on the horizon did lie. 
 
 With that bright morning s earliest beams, Montgomery sought 
 
 the shore, 
 
 And the vessels in the harbor his eager eyes ran o er ; 
 But he looked and sought in vain for one, a proud ship, tall and 
 
 fair, 
 
 That the eve before was sleeping at her moorings peaceful there; 
 No, that dark but gorgeous vessel, was beyond the Golden Gate, 
 With the strong breeze pressing every sail, as tho r she fled from 
 
 fate; 
 
 The image on its arching bows with crested foam was white, 
 And abaft its wake extended far, a long clear stream of light ; 
 Silent along her rolling deck, a fair form listless strode, 
 And careless gazed out on the waves, that past his good ship 
 
 flowed ; 
 
 That high form was Captain Thorn s, one an honor to his race, 
 But now with every sail unfurled he fled from his disgrace. 
 
MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 103 
 
 Love ! what a boundless mastery thou hast upon the heart, 
 How difficult when firmly fixed, thy golden links to part, 
 How strange, too, are thy cunning ways, making a sage a fool, 
 And a brainless fool almost a sage by the same fickle rule. 
 
 ii. 
 
 Tis said for many days and weeks, that glorious vessel fled, 
 Oft would the sudden tempest, tear the stretched sail to a shred; 
 But the stern commander s only word was let the fierce winds blow 
 And strain each yard of canvass, that on we more swift may go ; 
 Press on the sails, unfurl them all, with foam keep white the prow, 
 And let the watchword only be, we re sailing swiftly now ; 
 Then sped they on across the line, far off on southern seas, 
 Until the spray froze on the sails, and frigid was the breeze ; 
 Far in those ice bound latitudes, where winter holds her seat, 
 And the shrill lament of warring winds the seaman s ear doth 
 greet. 
 
 HI. 
 
 Tis said some Patagonians watched from off this snow crowned 
 
 shore, 
 
 And saw the ship with sails all torn, as a tempest o er it bore ; 
 A mountain billow climbed her deck, mast, spar and sail went by, 
 And wild above the crash of waves, came back a drowning cry. 
 By the Isle of Desolation, on a fearful frozen coast, 
 Where winter broods perpetual woe, the gorgeous ship was lost ; 
 But by the broken mast was seen, a tall form, self possessed, 
 Amidst the fearful tumult that assailed each other breast ; 
 And when the massive ship went down, he stirred not from his 
 
 place, 
 But calmly gazed on coming death with unaverted face. 
 
104 MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 
 
 IY. 
 
 Montgomery slowly turned away in deep thought to his home, 
 And when within its eherish d bounds at length he d quiet come ; 
 He was surprised, a stranger, in his drawing room to meet, 
 For the morning o er the slumbering world had hardly broken yet; 
 That stranger was the editor, who cold, but courteously 
 Gave Clay a note, requesting if convenient, a reply ; 
 Clay glanced briefly at the message, then bade the man return 
 In an hour, if the answer he should make he wished to learn. 
 Then Lewis left the mansion, and Montgomery called his wife, 
 She came quickly at his bidding, with smiles her cheeks were rife ; 
 He drew her beside him tenderly and asked her what reply, 
 To give to such a message, to refuse or to comply. 
 
 v. 
 
 She glanced the message quickly o er; "dear husband," murmured 
 
 she, 
 
 Does that fiend then wish to slay you, because you honored me ? 
 Oh ! Clay, you must not fight him, that base challenge spurn, 
 
 despise !" 
 And as she spoke her cheeks grew pale, and tears o er ran her eyes. 
 
 VI. 
 
 " But Minnie," answered Clay, " you know they d call me coward 
 
 then, 
 
 Thou hadst better be a widow than a coward s wife I ween ; 
 Your soul so sensitive and proud would crumble neath the stain, 
 That the husband of thy love did a coward heart contain." 
 
 VII. 
 
 She slowly, gravely, sadly spoke, " Who d call you coward Clay, 
 Should you this wretched challenge choose to spurn and cast 
 away ?" 
 
MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 105 
 
 Till. 
 
 Clay answered, " all the first men of the city I should find, 
 Would shun me when they knew, indeed, this challenge I d de 
 clined." 
 
 " And has the world gone back so far ?" the noble wife exclaimed, 
 " That this, the vilest practice, the dark ages e er contained, 
 Must be resorted to, must e en suspend a husband s life, 
 Because he would defend from shame the honor of his wife ; 
 Oh ! Clay ! dost thou forget so far the lessons of thy youth ? 
 Dare you wander so far away from rectitude and truth ? 
 Could you ever look again upon your aged father s brow ? 
 He who grew grey instructing you the duties that you owe 
 The world, yourself, your fellow man, your family, your God, 
 Could you again gaze in my face, when I knew that he who vowed 
 To love, protect and cherish me, had forgotten his poor bride, 
 And wrecked her heart to satisfy a hollow sense of pride ; 
 Putting within a wretch s hand, the life his God had given, 
 Thus jeopardizing earthly joys, and e en his hopes of heaven ? 
 And should you kill him, Clay ; oh ! Clay, would you be satisfied 
 To feel a wretch all unprepared, by your rash hand, had died ; 
 That while in that blest bible, you are taught to love your foe, 
 Thou hadst with stern intention sent his soul to endless woe ?" 
 
 IX. 
 
 " That is all true," he answered, " but the time and place have 
 
 weight, 
 And to die, or live a coward called, the first I d choose a fate." 
 
 x. 
 
 " But you would prove yourself the last, shouldst fight this man," 
 said she, 
 
106 MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 
 
 " Brutes fight, but the true hero it did ever seem to me, 
 Was one to face each form of wrong, would do a nobler deed, 
 Would never a few lawless minds of this great city heed ; 
 But go right onward in the right, like an arrow on its way, 
 Quite indifferent what a few vile natures choose to say." 
 
 XI. 
 
 " But," answered Clay, " last week two men, law-makers, learned, 
 Their sacred honors to maintain in a like act were concerned." 
 
 XII. 
 
 " Thus showing what weak worms they are," said Minnie, eagerly, 
 " And do you for the deed respect them more ?" continued she, 
 "Are their dreams more sweet at midnight, their thoughts more 
 
 free by day, 
 
 Than before each others life they sought ? Do not believe it, Clay; 
 Tis not a sign of courage ; I believe with all my mind, 
 They are men who to sober reason are so completely blind, 
 They would unflinching face a foe, rather than comrades jeers, 
 But who would pass undeeded by. a child s or woman s tears, 
 TO save their own poor lives, in an hour with peril rife, 
 When death for a fixed certainty, was leveling at a life." 
 With earnest words she strove with Clay, till Lewis called to know 
 What answer he should honored be, to bear back to his foe. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 He smiled a smile of low contempt, and cutting mockery, 
 When Montgomery returned to him his negative reply ; 
 And Clay could scarce endure it, but when his fond Minnie smiled, 
 And blessed him for the noble act, his soul was reconciled ; 
 For her love was more to him than the bitterest scorn could be, 
 That came from hearts like Lewis , filled with shame and perfidy. 
 
CANTO VIII. 
 
 Months in their heavy circles, now had swiftly rolled away, 
 Since Montgomery had been entrapped in the snares of Lady 
 
 Gray; 
 
 In vain with all a woman s art, she strove to bring him back, 
 But with such skill and coolness, he had warded each attack, 
 That at length she yielded every hope, and sunk in dark despair, 
 Her form drooped neath the burthen, and upon her features fair, 
 A clammy moisture fell at times, the spray from death s dread 
 
 tide, 
 
 Which it was evident, flowed slow and cold, and near her side 
 Her husband was recalled, and when he came and saw the change, 
 When he marked her hacking cough, and saw, alas ! the hectic 
 
 tinge, 
 
 That flitted o er her face at times, then left it snowy white ; 
 When he saw in her dark lustrious eyes the wild unearthly light, 
 Which consumption ever kindles, he felt the dreadful blow, 
 For he knew his cherished idol was ere long to leave him now. 
 Oft would the hot tears tremble in the dying woman s eye, 
 And flow down her sallow cheek as the anguished long drawn 
 
 sigh, 
 
108 MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 
 
 Or tender, loving accents, of her husband s voice, she d hear, 
 As they fell in tones of sorrow, low upon her ringing ear. 
 Day after day rolled slowly by, weak and more weak she grew, 
 Death s finger-marks upon her brow more plainly shone in view, 
 Till at length a dreadful night closed down in darkness and in 
 
 gloom, 
 
 Around, above the city vast, the raging blast did boom. 
 The wild southeastern tempest fierce, was bursting on the world, 
 And midnight s sable ensign, over nature was unfurled ; 
 While Gray beside his dying wife, his still, lone watchings kept, 
 At times he murmured bitter words, at times he wildly wept; 
 As he recalled the dreams of old, he half repined that God 
 Should smite him with so bitter, with so keen a stinging rod. 
 But hush ! silence, those sleeping lips are moving in a dream, 
 Perhaps her mind is wandering on the brink of that cold stream; 
 The wretched man, that lone and still, watched by the sufferer s 
 
 bed, 
 
 Leaned at the first low whisper toward the dying one his head. 
 Alas ! what makes his cheek grow pale, his hand the pillow grasp, 
 His eyes flash forth such demon fires, his breath come in a gasp. 
 Oh ! tis another name than his, that clogs those pale lips now ; 
 Alas! that erring woman had forgot her bridal vow; 
 There, mid the dark and fearful hours of that tempestuous night, 
 Just when her parting spirit was upon the eve of flight, 
 She forgot the vows she plighted with eternal love and trust, 
 And called upon a stranger s name in that hour of failing dust. 
 " Oh ! my Montgomery," she cried, " you of the noble brow, 
 So angel-like in form and face, why wilt thou leave me now ; 
 Oh ! turn again that lightning eye once more in love on me, 
 Alas ! tis but a vision vain," sadly continued she. 
 
MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 109 
 
 Then slow she ope d her languid eyes, with death already glazed, 
 
 And startled at her husband s look, as he upon her gazed. 
 
 " Say, where is your dream companion?" coldly and stern, he 
 
 asked ; 
 
 Where is he in whose love-lit glance you just so sweetly basked V 
 Where is he of the glorious soul, the high and noble brow ? 
 So angel-like in form and face, pray has he left you now ?" 
 Then fainting, with the chill and spray of death upon her brow ; 
 With the silent, shadowy valley, looming darkly into view. 
 The gate of dread eternity, already swinging back r , 
 To usher in her naked soul, on its mysterious track, 
 There in that last, sad hour of life, she told her husband all; 
 Her meeting with Montgomery, his triumph and her fall ; 
 How she met him when her young heart was yearnmg to be loved y 
 She met him at a festival, where like a king he moved ; 
 How he talked to her with tongue inspired, in words so deep and 
 
 grand, 
 
 That her heart was swayed and mesmerized, as by a magic wand ; 
 Then how he left her in her sin, her shame and her distress, 
 That grief and wounded pride, not desire, did on her press. 
 But she did not blame Montgomery, but call d the deed her own r 
 And confessed that for his love her heart did bleed and break 
 
 alone ; 
 That he would not have approached her, had she not smiled 
 
 consent, 
 
 And to his dawning passion, all her glorious charms had lent ; 
 Then she prayed her husband s pardon, for alt her deeds of crime, 
 She prayed, alas ! so earnestly, in that last hour of time, 
 Till finally exhausted, faint, she closed her eyes and slept, 
 While one by one, the shadows dim of death aroomd. her crept. 
 
110 MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 
 
 The tempest died away without, the surly winds went down, 
 And silence like a sepulchre, fell o er the sleeping town ; 
 The morning star came silently out on the dapple sky, 
 And anoii, the golden sun itself rose dripping from the sea; 
 A ray fell on the features of the dying sufferer there, 
 She seemed to feel it and her lips moved a moment, as in prayer. 
 She ope d her glorious eyes, and for an instant they did blaze, 
 As when in love they sparkled bright, in earlier, happier days ; 
 And then the thin lids slowly drooped, her small arms grasped 
 
 the air, 
 
 One shudder, one convulsion shook that frame, so high and fair ; 
 And then Death s fixed expression stern, usurped its ghastly 
 
 place, 
 
 And spread its pallid outlines all o er the sunken face ; 
 The wrung and suffering spirit from its slender bond had fled, 
 And the anguish-stricken mourner, watched beside the beau 
 teous dead. 
 
 ii. 
 Dark thoughts like raging tempests, swept the mind of Allen 
 
 Gray, 
 As he watched the hushed and soulless form that cold before him 
 
 lay; 
 
 He thought of the bright morning, when the sacred organ pealed, 
 As to plight their solemn vows, they before the altar kneeled ; 
 Down the aisle of the Cathedral reached every strain, 
 And swelling up its echoes rung on the vaulted roof again. 
 He remembered all his joys of heart, how satisfied and proud 
 Were his feelings, as his trembling bride her heart s affection 
 
 vowed ; 
 He remembered when he bore her in her beauty to his home, 
 
MINNIE MONTGOMERY. Ill 
 
 And he thought no cloud of agony could o er that household 
 
 come ; 
 
 He thought of his blissful dreams by the camp-fire in the night, 
 When the world was hushed, and from above, smiled down the 
 
 pure stars bright ; 
 
 When he dreamed from dreadful battle he had successful come, 
 And laid his trophies at the feet of her, his angel one ; 
 When she smiled upon him, with her smile and warmest lustrous 
 
 glance, 
 Her bright eyes filled with sunny love did all his soul entrance. 
 
 in. 
 
 How terrible the change ! now was dimmed the royal eye, 
 And distorted were the features by the last dread agony ; 
 Those cheeks all pale, where roses once had loved to bloom and 
 
 grow ; 
 
 Those lips once pouting for a kiss, compressed and silent now ; 
 While her dying tongue assured him that the heart he thought 
 
 his owr, 
 
 Had long since from its chambers fair his image rent and torn. 
 As thoughts like raging billows along his memory swept, 
 Upon the downy couch he bowed and silent, helpless wept ; 
 And with his bitter sobbings, came wild curses on the head 
 Of him who had his idol sweet, from virtue s temple led; 
 But he could not think one harsh thought of the sleeper by his 
 
 side, 
 
 He could remember her only as his early chosen bride ; 
 Not one upbraiding word, not one reproach had he, 
 For her his cherish d idol, his fond heart s divinity ; 
 But awful was the vengeance-vow on the man that caused his woe, 
 At first he thought to smite him with one fierce tremendous blow ; 
 
112 MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 
 
 But bis soldier spirit soon rebelled against so stern a plan, 
 
 And then he thought to meet, him face to face, and man to man. 
 
 Not doubting that his own skill would excel his enemy, 
 
 And he thought his last joy then would be to see the proud man 
 
 die ; 
 
 And he also thought e en should he fall, how little was the worth 
 Of a life, when it was cheated of all its joys on earth ; 
 So he wrote to Clay Montgomery, a challenge plain, but brief, 
 And o er his dead wife bent again, in unavailing grief. 
 
 IV. 
 
 A long procession wended sad its slow way to a grave, 
 The sable plume above the hearse all mournfully did wave ; 
 Gay carriages were following, and many a prancing steed, 
 Foamed in their rich caparisons, at the snail-like funeral speed ; 
 Twas the cortege of the rich and proud, for even they must die, 
 When in the gloom death s thunders roll, the strongest must 
 
 obey. 
 
 A single mourner looked in gloom, and sadness from that train, 
 The boundlessness of his heart s woe, what language can contain; 
 Tis hard to see a friend we love waste with a fell disease, 
 And bitter are the tears we shed when the parted spirit flees, 
 And leaves a form we have caressed oft times in happier days, 
 A loathsome and unsightly corpse mouldering e en while we gaze; 
 But these are griefs that all who dwell upon the earth must bear, 
 Griefs that the happiest may expect, but which time may repair. 
 But oh ! who knows the bitterness that surges in the breast 
 Of man, when he is scorned by the idol he caressed ; 
 Who knows the horrid phantoms that are in a soul arrayed, 
 When all its boundless wealth of love is scorned, despised, be 
 trayed. 
 
MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 113 
 
 V. 
 
 Kind friends drew near to Allen Gray, and told him of his wife, 
 
 How beautiful she was on earth, how blameless was her life ; 
 
 And when he turned away from them in utter wretchedness, 
 
 They said Alas ! how terribly his sorrows on him press. 
 
 No wonder for she was indeed so beautiful and pure, 
 
 No w onder that her death doth make a wound too deep to cure. 
 
 VI. 
 
 The sun was slow descending on the western heaven s verge, 
 Around the narrow grave they stood, to chaunt the funeral dirge. 
 The coffin slowly settled low within the dreary cell, 
 The sods fell heavy on its lid, that direst funeral knell ; 
 The simple prayer was murmured, the benediction given, 
 When the sorrowing hours of time were passed, that all might 
 
 meet in heaven. 
 
 Then all forsook the cemetery, and Allen Gray alone, 
 With heart chords doubly parted, sought sorrowingly his home. 
 
 VII. 
 
 In his library Montgomery sat, to a student hallowed ground ; 
 Books, manuscripts and drawings, lay in rich profusion round ; 
 He was poring o er a picture, his lost boy s miniature, 
 And on his lips a blessing hung, as a low knock smote the door ; 
 He gently rose and opened it, and beheld a stranger there, 
 He politely bade him enter, courteous a seat drew near. 
 The man then told his mission, said he bore from Allen Gray 
 A note, extending at the time, the missive brief toward Clay. 
 Clay quickly wrote " accepted," named at once the spot and hour, 
 Said weapons should be rifles, he had more faith in their power. 
 The man then from the house withdrew, and Montgomery hast ly 
 wrote 
 
114 MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 
 
 To the gentle, pure souled Minnie, a brief but loving note ; 
 
 He told her he had slighted been, by many friends of late, 
 
 Since it was known a challenge he had refused to meet ; 
 
 That it was better far to die than "be a coward called, 
 
 That dishonor was more dreadful than to be by death empall d, 
 
 But he added, how bitterly, how intensely he deplored 
 
 The necessity of doing that he ever had abhorred ; 
 
 That he never would, had not of late, there grown upon his breast 
 
 A feeling of such heaviness, such pressure and unrest. 
 
 He could no longer bear it, that on his troubled soul 
 
 A mountain wave of bitterness did ever break and roll. 
 
 Till. 
 
 And then in measures frank and brief, he told her of his sin, 
 How a wanton far from duty s path, his erring soul did win ; 
 How after months of lonely toil in the deep mountain s bed, 
 With ample purse and bounding health, once more with men he 
 
 trod 
 
 The pavements of a city, and a being grand and fair, 
 Hose like a sweet dream beautiful before his vision there ; 
 Who turned the wealth of all her charms, his eager soul to lure, 
 Inspired by every matchless grace that beauty can secure ; 
 His lips her poisened wine did quaff, her songs were in his ear, 
 So loud and sweet that conscience voice no longer he could hear, 
 And for a while he wandered, led by passion, not by love, 
 For that was ever fixed her own beyond change or remove ; 
 And when at length he wakened from the dream that wrapt his 
 
 mind, 
 
 He waked in utter loathing of himself, by self to find, 
 And the creature who had lured him, when he left her, pined 
 
 away, 
 
MINNIE MONTGOMERY, 115 
 
 And when her yearning spirit was just parting from its clay, 
 
 Then with the last throbs of her heart, she free confession made, 
 
 And that her husband might forgive, in agony she prayed; 
 
 And now this angry husband did for vengeance <5ry, 
 
 And he should meet him calmly for he trembled not to die ; 
 
 And prayed she might forgive him when his life he should give up, 
 
 In answer for the bliss he quaffed from a forbidden cup, 
 
 And finally closed his letter with words of tenderest love, 
 
 And expressed a hope to meet "her in a better world above. 
 
 Then closing the letter he concealed it in his vest, 
 
 And sat down to calm the passions throbbing wildly in his breast. 
 
 IX, 
 
 Ere long the absent wife returned, and through the evening hours/ 
 Clay, to hide his heart s emotion, exerted all his powers; 
 And well did he conceal from his unsuspecting wife, 
 The cloud that black and lurid hung o er his very life ; 
 (For with his rifle, Allen Gray could stop the bounding deer, 
 Or arrest the squirrel s chirpings in the tree top high and sere.) 
 Sweet was their conversation, they were talking of the past, 
 A long bright path of happiness, with so few clouds overcast ; 
 Of the blessed destiny that brought their souls to meet in one, 
 Even as two rivers meet, then in one channel run ; 
 Little did the fond wife know of the thoughts that s^ept the brain, 
 The thoughts of mighty agony, of racking, crashing pain 
 Of that husband s mind ; she noticed not the tender words he spoke, 
 Subdued and almost solemn, or the earnest loving look ; 
 She heeded not while singing to him his favorite song, 
 How the great tears down his sunburnt cheeks did hot and copious 
 
 throng. 
 $ot that he feared the meeting, his soul stood high and proud, 
 
Jl MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 
 
 For himself he viewed all tranquilly the lowering thunder cloud; 
 
 But when he saw his lovely wife so joyous and serene, 
 
 And thought of all the changes sad the morning might convene ; 
 
 When he pictured her agony as she bent above him dead, 
 
 No wonder that the path before seemed with sharp thorns o er- 
 
 spread. 
 All the hours of that hushed starry night, Montgomery passed in 
 
 thought, 
 
 No rest the heavy moments t his weary senses brought ; 
 While the dear creature by his side in innocence reposed T 
 Unconscious that her husband s heart a hell of grief enclosed, 
 
 Oft times in peaceful, blissful dreams, she murmured his loved 
 
 name, 
 
 And at each sound his very soul seemed consuming with flame ; 
 So dreadful was his agony, that he almost blessed the glow 
 Of the morning, as its crimson beams on the earth began to flow. 
 With the first beam Montgomery from his soft couch gently 
 
 slipped, 
 
 And noiselessly and hastily for the conflict he equipped ; 
 Took the letter from his bosom, laid it softly on the stand, 
 Then softly stole back to the bed, took the sweet sleeper s hand, 
 With love unutterable gazed on the angel slumbering there, 
 Till the big tears from his vision shut out the being fair ; 
 Then on the pale and languid lips, he pressed a warm adieu, 
 And seizing on his trusty gun, from the apartment quick with 
 drew. 
 
 He sought alone the field of strife, for he had a purpose high. 
 Which he resolved to execute, should he survive or die ; 
 
MINNIE MONTGOMERY. Ill 
 
 He found his foe already there, and with him many more. 
 Among the the throng was Leonard, who fierce and scoffing swore 
 There was no hazard, challenging such like Montgomery, 
 With form t awe old Hercules, without soul to scare a fly. 
 
 XI. 
 
 Soon they were stationed -on the ground, their weapons firm in 
 
 hand, 
 
 Two forms of proudest manhood, lofty, fair, sublimely grand; 
 The sttn that on their rifles gleamed was dimmM beneath the ray 
 Of fires that sliot from their bold eyes; sternly they stood at bay. 
 Around, all Nature seemed at peace, no zephyrs stirred the air, 
 No cloud sailed o er the heavens clear, to shade their outlines 
 
 fair, 
 And flowers were blooming round them, twas a morn of flowery 
 
 May, 
 And in the distance tranquil slept the blue waves of the bay. 
 
 The word was slowly given, each answered sternly, " ready," 
 Each raised his weapon to his face without one nerve unsteady ; 
 " One," from the second s white lips fell, and on the morning air 
 Gray s rLfle .rang out clear and shrill ; the sound awoke a hare, 
 Which from its covert frightened rushed.; the eagle eye of Clay 
 Beheld the frightened quadruped as it leaped swift away, 
 And ere the second ceased to count, he brought his gun to bear, 
 It flashed and rung, and the poor beast gave a wild bound in the air, 
 And stretched in death its quivering limbs, a hundred yards or 
 
 mere, 
 
 From where Montgomery quiet gazed off on the flowery shore. 
 Some praised the skillful, wondrous deed, while others in surprise, 
 
US MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 
 
 Awe struck, upon Montgomery fixed their wondering spell-bound 
 
 eyes. 
 
 But Gray was yet unsatisfied, though all could see most plain, 
 That half the skill that stopped the hare, would have stretched 
 
 him with the slain. 
 
 Still he could not forgive the: man that his heart s love had un 
 wound,. 
 
 And stern he bade again prepare far a decisive round ; 
 Again they took their stations, and again Gray s rifle woke 
 The echoes of the distance as it on the still air broke. 
 That moment from the ocean s brink a lordly eagle rose, 
 In his talons a huge serpent writhed in his dying throes ; 
 As they reached the spot of air above Montgomery s head,, 
 He aimed his trusty rifle up and its leaden message fled ; 
 The eagle s shrill exulting shriek died plaintive in his throat, 
 For a moment the fearless bird seemed on the air to float, 
 And then the proud head slowly drooped, the strong wings ceased 
 
 to beat, 
 
 Rent through and through, serpent and bird fell at the marksman s 
 feet. 
 
 XIIL 
 
 Midst the Sierra s crags -that morn some eaglets shieked in vain, 
 No parent bird returned to them with trophy newly slain, 
 For Montgomery s dreadful rifle had stopped the bold bird s flight, 
 And the young eaglets elamorings were stilled by death that 
 
 night. 
 
 XIT. 
 
 Gray gloomy drew near to the spot, gazed on the dying pair ; 
 The serpent in its hideousness, the eagle bold and fair. 
 Then, turned him to. Montgomery,. "It is enough," ke 
 
MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 119 
 
 Every life you aim at is numbered with the dead ; 
 And slow and sad he turned away, and left the field of strife, 
 Almost unhappy that he still possessed a worthless life. 
 Soon he rejoined his regiment to seek in war s dread tide, 
 To drown the dreadful heart-ache that in his bosom preyed. 
 
 xv, 
 
 As the crimson morning o er the world its thousand bright beams 
 
 shed, 
 
 Some wandering rays a lattice pierced and fell on Minnie s bed, 
 And woke the beauteous sleeper from a dream of peace and love, 
 And as her eyes unconsciously did round her chamber move, 
 She, startled, saw the letter with its superscription plain, 
 And bounding from the couch with a thought of coining pain, 
 She read until her trembling limbs refused her weight to bear, 
 And she fainting fell upon the floor in agony of prayer ; 
 And save the prayer upon her lips and sobs that wrung her breast, 
 No movement stirred her beauty as the carpet Low she pressed; 
 In tears she supplicated God her husband s sins forgive, 
 And grant that from the conflict he might return and live ; 
 And when unscathed that husband came, still in her night array, 
 With cheeks deformed with scalding tears, she on the hard floor 
 
 lay; 
 
 And when he raised her gently up, she hung upon his breast, 
 And wound his neck with her white arms, and cheek gainst cheek 
 
 was presse-a ; 
 And when he whispered, "can st forgive?" she fondly kissed his 
 
 brow, 
 And raised her eyes to heaven, and said, "Oh! G.od, I thank 
 
 ,thee ROW 
 
120 MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 
 
 And as my heart doth now lorgive, may I forgiveness feel, 
 For all the sins thy record book against me doth reveal. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 Clay Montgomery is a wiser man than before his trials came, 
 
 And he looks no more for happiness beyond his hearthstone fane ; 
 
 And Minnie, the pure being that nought could turn in life 
 
 From virtue s holy pathway, is still the faithful wife. 
 
 With charms ineffable entwined, an angel could not be, 
 
 In the bright palaces of heaven from every fault more free ; 
 
 Her smile still lights Montgomery s home, and from its heavenly 
 
 ray, 
 For higher happiness he seeks no more to go astray. 
 
 XVII. 
 
 In the Asylum for the mad, a strong man may be seen, 
 
 His carriage still is manly, and his eye has youth s bright sheen ; 
 
 And he calls the bars that bind his cell, each one a wedge of gold, 
 
 And he tells you in a whisper, they are worth a sum untold ; 
 
 And counts his fingers with a smile, and murmurs three per cent, 
 
 And says on good securities, he has every penny lent. 
 
 Then in some musty papers, that strew his prison floor, 
 
 For hours he will crouch eager down, and o er them proudly pore ; 
 
 And talking strangely all the time of mortgage, bond and deed, 
 
 And curses that his interest remains so long unpaid. 
 
 The keeper of his dismal cell, will tell you that his name 
 
 Is Leonard, that he once possessed a fortune, influence, fame, 
 
 But that in San Francisco by the failure of a bank, 
 
 And a mighty conflagration, his ample fortune sank ; 
 
 And by the shock his nerves received, his reason fled its throne, 
 
 Nor can by any medicine his mind regain its tone. 
 
MINNIE MONTGOMERY. 121 
 
 But ever through his wandering eye, fleet golden visions bright, 
 And for ever is he following the sweet enchanting sight. 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 But I weary of this tedious tale, unhappy was its birth, 
 
 It is a midnight offspring, and fancy brought it forth ; 
 
 It has lulled my troubled spirit in hours when others sleep, 
 
 When the giddy one loves best to dance, the mourner best to 
 
 weep; 
 
 And now tis done, the joy is past, twere better it should rest 
 In an eternal slumber upon oblivion s breast, 
 Like an infant that just saw the light, then ceased the pulses throe, 
 Just when the little heart first throbbed, the blood first learned 
 
 to flow. 
 
 XIX. 
 
 Reader ! if thou has struggled through its broken measures all, 
 Watched virtue s certain triumph, and error s certain fall, 
 If in these broken numbers, thou hast found one single strain 
 That pleased you, I am quite content, my task is not in vain ; 
 And now that it is ended, with the morning star in view, 
 I throw the foundling to the world. Adieu ! my child, Adieu ! 
 
MY SISTER, 
 
 i. 
 Oh ! Sister, can it be that them art dead ? 
 
 Will I ne er see thy, gen tie face again ? 
 Is the cold grave, indeed, thy only bed? 
 
 Or is this tale some vision of my brain? 
 
 ii. 
 Would that it were ; but no, alas ! tis true ; 
 
 Death s icy fingers touched the tender clay, 
 And memory whispers when I think of you, 
 
 The flower has sweetly bloomed, and passed away. 
 
 in. 
 Strange world of change, I left thee a glad bride, 
 
 Far in my native land, sweet Genesee ; 
 A peerless group e en in that land of pride, 
 
 Mingled to make thee joyous company, 
 
 IV. 
 
 Midst noble men and maidens passing fair ; 
 
 Mid banquet joy, wit, happiness and glee; 
 Where music s sweetest strains filled all the air, 
 
 Sister, I bade my last " Good-bye " to thee. 
 
MY SISTER. 123 
 
 V. 
 
 Thou wert attired in thy rich bridal dress, 
 
 Thou stood st full in the lamps resplendent light, 
 
 Thou hadst upon thy cheek a loveliness, 
 
 Almost divine, as soft thou saidst " Good night. * 
 
 VI. 
 
 Good night we hardly thought it was the last ; 
 
 I turned my eyes with joy to this far West, 
 But even then consumptions fangs were fast 
 
 Plucking the life drops from thy fragile breast* 
 
 VII. 
 
 The world has lost its beauties to me now, 
 All seems so sad, so desolate, so drear ; 
 
 How coldly frowns the mountain s icy brow, 
 How solemn sound the winds upon my ears. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 For when again I trace the ocean back, 
 Thy voice a welcome will no longer sound, 
 
 And the deep sadness of each, face will speak, 
 And say the church yard has another mound. 
 
 IX. 
 
 But there is comfort still. In dreams I see 
 
 Thee decked in fairer robes than those ye wore 
 
 When I last gazed up in thy loving eye, 
 
 In that, my native land, sweet, hallowed shore. 
 
 x. 
 
 For thou art standing by the great " white throne ;" 
 Whose light doth flood with glory that fair land ; 
 
MY SISTER. 
 
 Death s stream is crossed, the goal of bliss is won, 
 Thy harp is tuned, thy crown is in thy hand. 
 
 XI. 
 
 No longer sad, lest from the gorgeous gate 
 
 Of Heaven, thou see st the sorrowing ones below ; 
 
 A husband, broken-hearted at thy fate, 
 A sister s burning tears that ceaseless flow, 
 
 XII. 
 
 An infant pining for a mother s love, 
 
 A father, bow d by sorrows and by years ; 
 
 And proud, stern brothers, whose heart s feelings move 
 In deeper, purer channels than their tears. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 May be, thou see st me wandering here alone^ 
 At least, I ll think so, in temptation s hour, 
 
 And may the visions, a sweet warning come, 
 To shield my spirit from the tempter s power, 
 
NEW YEAR IN CALIFORNIA, 
 
 Januarj 1st. 1856, 
 
 1. 
 
 I watched for long, long starry hours last eve a wondrous sight, 
 All fearful did its out-lines gleam upon the disk of night ; 
 Would I had language adequate to call back half the scene, 
 As on the hushed night s solemn brow its lineaments did gleam, 
 
 ii. 
 
 U I stood twixt the eternities," the future and the past, 
 By the ancient august portal, that divides their ages vast ; 
 O er the earth and sky, the midnight her banners did unfurl, 
 And clouds and gloom, and darkness, enchained the slumbering 
 world. 
 
 in. 
 
 As I gazed upon that portal, it slowly backward swung, 
 And the grating of its ponderous hinge seemed like a death knell 
 
 rung; 
 
 And lo ! a vast procession, I saw advancing near, 
 Bearing upon a sable hearse, the dead and silent year. 
 
 IV. 
 
 There was Spring the fair and rosy, now with withered flowers 
 enwreathed, 
 
126 HEW YEAR IN CALIFORNIA. 
 
 There was Summer, with its waving grains, all cut and closely 
 
 sheaved ; 
 
 There were Autumn s golden fruits all sunken and decayed, 
 And in a enowy shroud was Winter s form arrayed. 
 
 Alas ! how sad and vast a wreck was on that funeral car, 
 The wreck by sea and land, by pestilence arrd war -, 
 The blood from many a battle field was trickling from that bier, 
 And it mingled as it fell with many a mourner s tear. 
 
 VI. 
 
 There were ten thousand gallant souls, the goal o ertook at sea, 
 There were ten times ten thousand more that loved the wine cup e 
 
 glee, 
 
 An hundred tiiires ten thousand more had fled from battle s rage, 
 And ten times ten hundred thousand more came from disease 
 
 and age. 
 
 VII. 
 
 A myriad host of pallid brows, that when the year had birth, 
 Looked forward toward the titles and honors of the earth ; 
 Alas ! forever passed away, in utter silence lost, 
 Wrapped in death s icy mantle, sealed by his dreadful frost. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 And there were broken hearts and vows all unredeemed, 
 And high resolves unfinished, how ghastly sad they seemed, 
 And the ghosts of blissful dreams stared pale from off that bier, 
 And the skeleton of golden hopes, stood cold and empty near. 
 
NEW YEAR IN CALIFORNIA. 127 
 
 IX. 
 
 And there were deeds whose doers sought, no praise from this 
 
 cold world, 
 
 Deeds of self sacrifice and love, upon that death car hurled ; 
 No eye beholds them save the one that sees the sparrow fall," 
 And the recording angels, whose book contains them all. 
 
 On passed the long funereal train, and gazing do^vn the gloom, 
 I saw beyond that portal s arch, the trophies of that tomfr; 
 The charncl house of bygone years, six thousand moulder there, 
 With all their joys and sorrows, their triumphs and despair. 
 
 XI. 
 
 Empires and kingdoms there are laid, there cunning arts are lost, 
 And midst the hideous wreck, I saw in wild confusion tossed, 
 The skeleton of such high thoughts, that had they found a tongue 
 On earth, they would till Time s last throb, have down the ages 
 rung. 
 
 XII. 
 
 And I saw a gloomy spectre in those realms of endless night, 
 Beyond it through the awful void, there shone no ray of light ; 
 Twaa cruel, cold Forgetfulness, spreading her mildewed pall, 
 O er unremembered thoughts and deeds, and arts, and glories all. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 As passed the dread procession, I heard a plaintive ery, 
 "Twas Time, bewailing his last child, that neath that pall did lie, 
 And when the midnight ceased to toll, the mighty train had past, 
 And the heavy portal closed again upon the ruins vast. 
 
128 NEW YEAR IN CALIFORNIA. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 I looked, and lo ! the glad " New Year" I saw, fresh robed draw 
 
 nigh, 
 And her happy welcome clogged each lip and gladdened every 
 
 eye; 
 
 The young sprang to meet her with merry bounding feet, 
 And the old rejoiced that they another year could greet. 
 
 xv. 
 
 A year gone by, how swiftly its measures have been toll d, 
 How swiftly fled the moments past, though precious all as gold ; 
 Close on the morning s splendor, comes the evening s setting sun, 
 And the careless world scarce heeds when a day or year is done. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 What is a year ? when past, tis a step down toward the tomb. 
 
 Another shadow closing o er this dark veil of gloom ; 
 
 It is a life-chord parted, and when it yields away, 
 
 There broken is another link in the chain that binds our stay. 
 
 XVII 
 
 How many links are left ? ye aged, dost thou know, 
 Ye with the tottering steps, dim eye, and wrinkled brow ; 
 With pulses slow, and bodies bent, to pass the portal dread, 
 That divides the two eternities, the living and the dead? 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 How many links, ye bridegroom, with that confiding one, 
 Who leans upon you willing, and happy, to be won ; 
 Ye whose hearts by loves sweet fetters are now so sweetly bound, 
 Who have waited for this New Year, e er the last wild hope be 
 crown d ? 
 
NEW YEAR IN CALIFORNIA. 129 
 
 XIX. 
 
 Canst say how many links are left, ye maiden, canst thou tell, 
 Thou, whose feet are bounding to that music s ebb and swell ? 
 Say , is it in this year that lustrous eye shall fade, 
 Those features fair, grow pallid, and disease that form invade ? 
 
 xx. 
 
 Say, shall thy spirit s tenement, when comes again this day, 
 
 Be still a beauteous thing of earth, or have gone the untried way? 
 
 Alas ! there is no answer ; man rushes reckless on, 
 
 Till the chords of life are broken, and the vital shadow gone. 
 10 
 
A DREAM. 
 
 i. 
 Twas night, and tired, I sought to rest, 
 
 The day s harsh toil was done, 
 The noon of night had long been past, 
 
 The morrow nigh begun ; 
 And soon, o er ray senses crept 
 A blissful langor, and I slept. 
 
 ii. 
 But visions strange and beautiful, 
 
 Did round me hovering come ; 
 And from their phantom lips there fell 
 
 The words, " Come home, come home ;" 
 "Come back to those that love thee dear," 
 They whispered in my startled ear. 
 
 in. 
 And then, behold ! a distant land 
 
 Rose up before me fair ; 
 Its outlines, though on every hand, 
 
 Familiar did appear ; 
 And soon I knew I gazed upon 
 My early and beloved home. 
 
A DREAM. 131 
 
 IV. 
 
 I saw the old house, as it looked 
 
 The morn I came way ; 
 The pear tree with its branches crooked, 
 
 Where loved the winds to play; 
 The harvest fields with grain were white, 
 It was a sweet and hallowed sight. 
 
 v. 
 Upon the broad piazza stood, 
 
 My aged, beloved sire ; 
 His heart has yet its youth s warm blood, 
 
 His eye its manhood s fire ; 
 Although his years do more than span 
 The number heaven allotted man. 
 
 He stood, his hand upon his brow, 
 
 That brow so high and fair, 
 His silver locks did round it flow, 
 
 I gazed, until a tear 
 Gushed up, and blinded either eye, 
 " Why don t he come ?" I heard him cry. 
 
 VII. 
 
 I saw my sister, silent, pale, 
 
 Stroll up the garden path ; 
 The gorgeous flowers upon the gale 
 
 Breathed sweet, their scented breath ; 
 And as she wandered thus alone, 
 She murmured, " would that he might come. 
 
132 A DREAM. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 I saw his steed, my brother rein, 
 In his old boisterous mood ; 
 
 I saw the charger s waving mane, 
 His flanks all foam and blood. 
 
 The rider and the fretted steed, 
 
 It seemed reality, indeed. 
 
 IX. 
 
 I saw, I hardly here can tell, 
 All that the dream did see ; 
 
 One thing of many I ll recall, 
 A tender theme to me ; 
 
 And yet I m half constrained to keep 
 
 The subject in my memory deep. 
 
 x. 
 
 It was a modest, graceful form, 
 
 An eye of azure blue, 
 A brow where clustered charm on charm, 
 
 Till as I gazed there grew 
 A thought within me, that my eyes 
 Had caught a glimpse of Paradise. 
 
 XI. 
 
 A sea of jetty tresses fell 
 
 Upon her neck of snow, 
 I saw her bosom heave and swell, 
 
 I saw her soft cheeks glow, 
 I heard her sweet lips plaintive say, 
 "Why stays he thus. so long away ?" 
 
A DREAM. 133 
 
 XII. 
 
 I strove the fairy hand to clasp, 
 
 To tell her I was near ; 
 The phantom fingers fled my grasp, 
 
 I wakened up to hear 
 Life s weary enginery roll on, 
 Not yet, not yet, may I go home. 
 
FOURTH OF JULY, 1855. 
 
 I. 
 
 Where Maine s dark forests shadowy wave, far in the cool, fair 
 
 north, 
 
 Where old Penobscot in his strength, to seaward rushes forth ; 
 This morn the wonted labor, the hum of life is still, 
 The stalwart woodman leaves his axe, hushed is the mightly mill; 
 But midst those dim, deep forests, and by the slumbering lakes, 
 From ten thousand lips this morning, a shout of gladness breaks ; 
 For Freedom s anniversary day, again to man is given, 
 By Heroes blood, tis sanctified, the rarest gift of heaven, 
 
 u. 
 
 From Massachusett s classic shrine, from Plymouth s holy rock, 
 From Concord and from Bunker Hill, where first the war notes 
 
 broke ; 
 From New Hampshire s granite mountains, from Bennington s 
 
 proud height, 
 
 This morning one vast echo swells, and deepens in its might, 
 For those people stand upon the soil, where their stern sires chose 
 
 to die, 
 Rather than see oppression s chains, endarken all the sky. 
 
 in. 
 
 Where Hudson s grand, majestic stream rolls down amidst its hills, 
 Where Niagara s voice of thunder, the far off listener thrills ; 
 
FOURTH OF JULY. 135 
 
 From Eric and Ontario, to cold and pure Champlain, 
 
 This morn there rises up a cry, a loud exultant strain ; 
 
 For Freedom chants her birth-day hymn, and its anthem strains 
 
 arise, 
 
 As grand as angels chant on high, the songs of Paradise ; 
 And far to southward rolls the strain, on past Mt. Vernon s grave, 
 Across the old Palmetto State, that nursery of the brave, 
 Amidst the fragrant orange groves, or the fair magnolia tree, 
 That song goes sweetly up this morn, that song of Liberty. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Where Mississippi s torrents in eternal volumes rush, 
 With the whirlwind s wild velocity, the earthquake s awful crush, 
 Along the mighty valley, through which it thundering roars, 
 From the thousand fair plantations, that beautify its shores ; 
 O er the broad and deep Ohio, o er the prairies of the West, 
 There s gladness, there s jubilee, in every freeman s breast. 
 
 v. 
 
 Where far within the wilderness, the emigrant toils on, 
 In labor and in weariness, to a still more western home ; 
 This morn the royal eagle from his eyrie fled away, 
 As the wanderer gave his welcome to the blest and holy day. 
 
 VI. 
 
 Away upon the ocean, where the billows heave and swell, 
 Where in loveliness and loneliness the gorgeous vessels sail, 
 This morning, o er the waters, a thousand broadsides speak, 
 And echoes grand reverberate from many a rolling deck. 
 For Freedom treads the smiling earth, his song breathes o er the 
 
 sea, 
 And the sailors pulses beat in time to its high minstrelsy. 
 
1 36 FOURTH OP JULY. 
 
 VII. 
 
 Ind where our sable frigates have folded up their wings, 
 And are resting on their anchors in the distant ports of kings, 
 From their dusky sides the heavy guns boom harsh on tyrants 
 
 ears, 
 
 Their solemn tones awaken a thousand smouldering fears ; 
 For in their thunder-bursts are heard words ominous and drear, 
 That the end of earthly kings and kingdoms draweth near. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 In England s lordly palaces, there s sadness brooding now, 
 There are many sable garments worn, there many a tear doth 
 
 flow; 
 
 *?or the glory of the nation has gone to doubtful strife, 
 And dispairing are the glances of sister, mother, wife. 
 In answer to their yearning hearts, no echo comes again, 
 Save the roar of hostile cannon, the shouts of fighting men. 
 
 IX. 
 
 In the vine-clad vales of sunny France, there s mourning sad and 
 
 drear, 
 
 For the bravest of her people beyond the Danube war ; 
 A second and worse Moscow blazes on them its fierce fire, 
 And iron hail is mingled in the tempest wild and dire. 
 Her minstrel-harps are silent, her maidens dance no more, 
 For fearful are the echoes from the Black Sea s smoking shore. 
 
 x. 
 
 And Russia is in mourning too, though in serfdom low she lies, 
 There are some heart strings broken e en when a peasant dies ; 
 By the Danube and the Dneister, the Cossac hero sleeps, 
 By the Volga and the Don, the Cossac mother weeps. 
 
FOURTH OF JULY. 137 
 
 Poor Europe is convulsed by a more than earthquake s power, 
 And the darkness seems still gathering and thickening every hour. 
 
 XI. 
 
 But peace sits on our fair land, the earth its treasures yield, 
 The mountains give their jewels up, white is the harvest field; 
 The stars and stripes are floating o er ocean s farthest wave, 
 Blessed by the weak and feeble, respected by the brave ; 
 Then freemen! should we not rejoice upon this glorious day, 
 Have we not more cause for gratefulness, than the nations far 
 
 away? 
 
 What country half so beautiful ? what climate half so bland ? 
 What valleys half so fertile ? what scenery half so grand ? 
 The mountain s firm foundations are laid in massy gold, 
 The rivers roll o er sparkling sands, in wealth unknown, untold ; 
 The climate softly nurtures the fairest tropic flower, 
 The soil brings vegetation forth with an all unequaled power ; 
 Our glorious State, the latest born, and yet supreme, by far, 
 In the Union s constellation, the brightest beaming star. 
 
 K3 xii. 
 
 Then let a shout of welcome, reverb rate o er the land, 
 
 From the Alleghany s summit to our Sierras, cold and grand ; 
 
 From Florida to Oregon, from the Rio Grande to Maine, 
 
 O er the Mississippi s valley, o er Kansas vexed domain ; 
 
 Let the trumpet tones roll westward, and as it meets us here, 
 
 Let us give it greeting worthy the lineage we bear ; 
 
 As children of that august race, who to freedom raised a fane, 
 
 And hallowed it with their own blood, a copious, sacred rain. 
 
TO TPIE MEMORY OF A BELOVED SISTER. 
 
 To-night there s mourning in my childhood s home, 
 A crushing sadness broods o er every room, 
 
 And stillness, save the throbs that stifled come, 
 Like tolling deatn-bells on the rayless gloom. 
 
 ii. 
 One and another droops, and fades, and dies, 
 
 Mother, sister, brother hushed in sleep, 
 Till now the band that s glad in Paradise 
 
 Exceeds the number left on earth to weep. 
 
 in. 
 Aud thou, our sister, last upon the way, 
 
 Say, when thy fainting spirit heard the roar 
 Of those dark billows, when the icy spray 
 
 Rose to thy brow from that mysterious shore, 
 
 IV. 
 
 Did not a gentle pilot find thee there, 
 
 And guide thy spirit through the leaden tide ? 
 
 Did there not rise a city high and fair, 
 
 With mansions grand, upon the other side ? 
 
TO THE MEMORY OF A BELOVED SISTER. 
 V. 
 
 Ob ! tell us of the glories of that place, 
 
 The shining palaces, the tree of life, 
 The throne, before which angels veil the face, 
 
 That Heaven with wonders and with beauties rife ? 
 
 VI. 
 
 Oh ! tell us of your meeting with the throng, 
 That came to greet you at the pearly gate ; 
 
 Methinks I hear the echoes of their song, 
 The mighty soundings of that anthem great, 
 
 VII. 
 
 Whose melodies no mortal ear could bear, 
 So solemn are its strains, so high and deep ; 
 
 When God s vast armies in one temple choir, 
 
 Join in the chant, and saints their loud harps sweep. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 Oh ! should that august band tune every string, 
 And should eternity s vast u organ " roll ; 
 
 Should angel and arch-angel join to sing, 
 A song of greeting to thy coming soul, 
 
 IX. 
 
 They could not tell of all thy gentleness, 
 
 Of all thy tenderness, and worth, and love ; 
 No kinder heart did death s cold hand e er press, 
 
 No purer spirit Heaven contains above. 
 
 x. 
 Alas ! tis sad ; my soul is racked in pain ; 
 
 My heavy heart is growing cold and sere, 
 For Memory s phantoms throng my aching brain ; 
 
 The tones of voices silenced thrill my ear. 
 
140 TO THE MEMORY OF A BELOVED SISTER. 
 
 XI. 
 
 It seems, at times, twere good to dwell alone 
 In this cold world, unblessing and unblest, 
 
 For close each joy we hear a funeral knell, 
 And Death from us our dearest hopes doth wrest. 
 
 XII. 
 
 Save that the voice of Faith doth whisper loud, 
 " There is a God who rules in highest heaven, 
 
 Who deals with justice unto man below, 
 
 Who pities hearts by gloom and anguish riven." 
 
 XIII. 
 
 But oft with clouds his mercies are concealed, 
 And till they break we cannot see the plan, 
 
 Which, when tis opened, always is revealed, 
 Sweet " peace on earth, and good will unto man." 
 
LINES 
 
 WRITTEN AFTER ATTENDING MRS. EMMA WALLER S CONCERT. 
 
 I. 
 
 I chanced at eve, to pass the house of prayer, 
 And in its sacred aisles I heard the tread, 
 
 As when a congregation gathers there, 
 To hear of Him who for man s evils bled. 
 
 ii. 
 I entered, and a gifted mortal sang, 
 
 Of the high mountains and the valley fair ; 
 And his deep tones, like murmuring forests rang, 
 
 Or vesper bells upon the evening air. 
 
 in. 
 Another sang, his theme was ocean wild ; 
 
 Where winds rejoice and midnight tempests rave 
 Of sinking ships, of father, wife, and child, 
 
 Sleeping all sweetly in their ocean grave. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Another sang ! fair as the queen of love, 
 She seemed, a smile filled either eye, 
 
 Her voice like warbling thush or cooing dove, 
 Thrills through my soul, and lifts me upon high, 
 
142 MRS. EMMA WALLER. 
 
 V. 
 
 My wandering thoughts, pass to each shining scat, 
 Where angel bands chant through their sacred halls, 
 
 And Cherubim on golden harps repeat, 
 The joys of those within those heavenly walls, 
 
 VI. 
 
 But her song grew sad at length, oh ! strangely sad, 
 And chokingly my heart throbbed while she sung; 
 
 Unconsciously my wandering thoughts were led 
 
 Back to the hallowed paths of "home, sweet .home. 1 
 
 VII. 
 
 I sought my pillow, but the silvery hairs 
 
 Of an aged father, o er my visions streamed, 
 And many a sparkling eye, bewitching fair, 
 As they were long ago upon me beamed. 
 I awoke, thanks to the songstress, 
 I had dreamed. 
 
ESTELLE POTTER. 
 
 T. 
 
 I stood in Thespis temple hall, 
 
 Before her sacred shrine, 
 Midst painting, beauty, and music, all 
 The charms she there to her aid doth call, 
 
 The soul with joy to entwine. 
 
 ii. 
 Before her altar, a being stood, 
 
 A creature gorgeously fair ; 
 Methought as I gazed from that high abode, 
 Where the angels chant their deathless ode, 
 
 She came to gladden, us here. 
 
 in. 
 She spoke ; there fell from her lips a tone 
 
 Like the warbling of a bird, 
 Like the nightingale, whose plaintive moan, 
 When she sings to her mate, her love, alone, 
 
 In the dim, deep night is heard. 
 
 IV. 
 
 And her eyes were mild, like a glad gazelle, 
 
 Her proud form, passive and still ; 
 But round her lips a smile did dwell, 
 So sweet and winning, my heart did swell, 
 And I felt in my soul a thrill. 
 
144 ESTELLE POTTER. 
 
 V. 
 
 But the play wore on, the calm brow grew 
 
 Empassioned, excited, stern ; 
 From o er the pale cheek the fierce eye threw 
 A gleam as fierce as mariner s view, 
 
 "When at midnight a ship doth burn. 
 
 VI. 
 
 And the voice grew loud, and deep, and grand, 
 
 Like a trumpet, or the sea 
 When the dread billows break on the land ; 
 And her trembling frame, e en the small clasped hand 
 
 Told the soul s intensity. ^ 
 
 VII. 
 
 And after her, went the hearts of the throng, 
 
 In wild, delirious beat ; 
 And when she ceased, in a loud prolong 
 Of shout and cheer, like a battle song, 
 
 They gave her homage sweet. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 There s a charm in genius, a glory, a power, 
 
 A sweet, a magical spell ; 
 An age of rapture I lived in that hour, 
 All earth was a garden where bloomed but one flower, 
 
 Our beautiful, gifted Estelle. 
 
 IX. 
 
 Let man talk no more of his prowess and might, 
 
 Or complain that Adam did fall ; 
 For Eve was a woman, Adam did right ; 
 He did as we all would have done in his plight, 
 
 For the sirens make slaves of us all. 
 
A DAY DREAM. 
 
 "I had a dream, which was not all a dream." 
 
 BYBON. 
 
 i. 
 Twas the year nineteen hundred, on Diablo s hoary brow, 
 
 A traveler stood enraptured, gazing down upon the view, 
 
 That stretched out fair before him in panorama grand, 
 
 Like a landscape sketch of Heaven, penciled by an angel hand. 
 
 u. 
 
 Twas night, but California s moon made night almost like day, 
 As its beams of silver mingled with the waters of the bay, 
 Which ocean-ward were rolling, and murmuring in their flow, 
 Like a breeze amidst the forest, like an organ sweet and low. 
 
 in. 
 
 Far, far away, the flowery earth stretched out a garden fair, 
 And homes of wondrous loveliness were frequent every where ; 
 And villages and cities, made picturesque the scene, 
 As their pinacles seemed jets of fire in the moon s refulgent sheen ; 
 The rail-car and the steamer were rushing to and fro, 
 Binding ocean s rolling surges with the Sierras capp d in snow ; 
 With the fresh ning breeze rich argories were standing out to sea, 
 Their shadowy sails unfurling a glorious canopy ; 
 And merchant ships, as if fatigued by the long billowy way, 
 
146 A DAT DREAM. 
 
 Were folding up their cloudy wings, while o er the moon-lit bay, 
 A navy as gigantic slept, as the one that s moored the while, 
 Round the world s commercial center Old Albion s ship-girt isle ; 
 The factory, the mighty mill, were rolling sternly on, 
 Life s enginery worked briskly, and the constant voiceless hum 
 Of a busy world was rising up in a murmur low and clear, 
 Like the anthem of the midnight wind, when autumn rules the 
 year. 
 
 IY. 
 
 As thus the stranger wondering gazed, a spirit sought his side, 
 A dweller of that unknown land, beyond Death s gloomy tide ; 
 And he whispered, "Mortal, lo ! I see, thou wonderest at the view 
 That stretches out beneath us, so gorgeous in its view ! 
 Come, sit down on this ragged cliff, and listen while I tell 
 Its history, the strangest far that e er a land befell. 
 
 v. 
 
 It is scarce half a century since the Almighty gave command 
 A certain people should possess this fair and goodly land ! 
 And he gave unto the vallies unknown fertility, 
 And he made o er beds of jewels the rivers seek the sea ; 
 In the mountains firm foundations he planted solid gold, 
 And the skies were ever azure, for Jehovah said, "Behold ! 
 This people shall be blessed indeed, and I will see if they 
 Will cast my stern commands aside, and my statutes disobey ; 
 Or if they will not once return, with thankful hearts to me, 
 For all the blessings I bestow Life, Wealth, Peace, Liberty ! " 
 
 VI. 
 
 From Earth s remotest shores, men clustered eager here, 
 And different nations mingled in contrast strange and queer ; 
 
A DAY DREAM. 14*7 
 
 From Europe^from Asia, from the islands of the main, 
 All tribes and dispositions, all shades and colors came. 
 And the mountains gave their jewels up, the proud hills bowed 
 
 their heads, 
 !Men made new channels for the streams, and left their golden 
 
 beds 
 
 All open for the spoiler s hand, and many a gloomy dell 
 Grew bright with glittering diamonds, where the sun s rays never 
 
 fell; 
 
 And the soil gave forth so generously beneath the laborer s hand, 
 That it seemed an endless garden extending o er the land ; 
 And the State bloomed in its beauty proudly and brightly forth, 
 The wonder, aye, the last great wonder of the earth ! 
 
 VII. 
 
 But men s hearts were not thankful ; their souls swelled up in 
 
 pride, 
 
 As they watched the golden harvest being reaped on every side, 
 And they gave no praise to Heaven, but ascribed to their own 
 
 skill 
 
 The change that came upon them ; and twas worth a smile 
 To see some men, by accident made wealthy suddenly, 
 Strive their new made honors to sport with ease and dignity, 
 But from neath the "lion s skin" of wealth, alas ! there would 
 
 appear, 
 At times most unpropitious the asses graceless ear. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 And there were fops in those young days ; poor soulless, brainless 
 
 fools, 
 Unlearned in aught except the round of Fashion s fickle rules, 
 
148 A DA 
 
 Without one gift of intellect, without one wandering thought, 
 From the sacred fane of Glory, by toil and study brought ; 
 Whose dreams at night were filled to brim with waistcoats long 
 
 and broad, 
 
 Or of collars, that surrounding things completely overawed ; 
 Without one noble purpose or aspiration high, 
 To strive, on Life s rough battle field, to conquer or to die ; 
 And while to dread Eternity rolled by the golden days, 
 They sought for nothing higher than some village spinster s 
 
 praise. 
 
 IX. 
 
 And there were maidens, too I grieve to tell it here 
 Maidens with rose-clad faces, and forms bewitching fair, 
 But without a glimmering vision beyond a flounced skirt, 
 Or of the slim excitement with some moon-struck beau to flirt ; 
 The bonnet that half concealed their half-filled heads, o erhung 
 The highest thought that e er to their imagination clung ; 
 And at the age when, in other lands, the maiden is a child, 
 Here, a woman all completed, on Life s gay sea she sailed, 
 Ready to discuss a poem, or theatrical display, 
 To faint, or blush, or marry, in the most fastidious way. 
 
 x. 
 
 And there were others, in those days, strong-minded women, they 
 Who called their sex oppressed, and who, by much display, 
 By long, rapid speeches, though no good was in them blent, 
 Thought unto themselves to rear a lasting monument; 
 forgetting their own hideous looks, while moving in that sphere, 
 hat like the wretched thing called man they would the most 
 appear ; 
 
A DAY DREAM. 149 
 
 Forgetting that the pilot, silent in his little room, 
 
 Guides the gallant ship, when tempests rave and billows crasl 
 
 and boom, 
 
 And not the noisy seaman, who by the reeling mast 
 Mingles his wild curses with the thundering of the blast ; 
 For men are but mariners, the stormy world to brave, 
 To work the trembling bark of Life, when winds relentless rave ; 
 While in the pilot-house of home, fair hands usurp their realm, 
 And voices soft and musical sway best the toss d bark s helm. 
 
 XI. 
 
 And midst all the confusion of the elements that made 
 Society in those young days, frail mortals further strayed ; 
 The midnight sky was darkened by many a fearful deed, 
 The thief and vagabond roamed free, nor did men longer heed 
 The sacred laws laid down to them from Sinai s smoking side. 
 The Sabbath was neglected, with haughtiness and pride ; 
 Men heeded not, nor worshipped, but at shrines of sordid gold, 
 And forgot the awful Being, at whose command first rolled 
 Sun, satellite s and stars, obedient, and sublime; 
 Who framed creation with a word, and gave the life to Time ; 
 Whose smile doth light immensity, whose form doth darken space; 
 Whose eye at one swift glance can eternity embrace ; 
 Who breathed in mercy unto man that little vital ray, 
 Of his own immortal spirit illumining the clay, 
 Till just below the angels, it stands in being s line ; 
 Yet as far beneath his Maker, as is the glow-worm s shine 
 Beneath the great sun s splendor, when on a summer day, 
 From zenith s height his burning beams upon the earth dofcfi play. 
 
 XII. 
 
 Now Lust and Pride, and Malice, reigned over all the land, 
 
150 A DAY DREAM, 
 
 And dark crimes grew, and widened, and extended on each hand; 
 For punishment the flood was sent, and towns and fair domain 
 Were whelmed beneath the waters, and men cursed the hateful 
 
 rain ; 
 
 The fire was left to burn its way, and oft upon a morn, 
 A smould ring, smoking mass was the only mark forlorn 
 Of the city, that the prior day had bloomed so- brightly fair, 
 But which had melted all away in the midnight s burning Qr. 
 Dire accidents were happening, by river, sea and plain, 
 The pestilence, the locust, the blight, each held its reign ; 
 But men heeded not these warnings, nor bowed beneath the rod, 
 But cursed their horrid luck, their own souls, and their God, 
 Till Justice look d in anger from his cloudy seat on high, 
 And heaven grew dark beneath the frown of his tremendous eye; 
 "Long have I borne the trials of this hated race," he said, 
 "All my commands they put to nought, all my decrees deride ; 
 An earthly paradise they make a place for pride and lust, 
 Tis meet that they should be destroyed, should crumble back to 
 
 dust ;" 
 
 Then He call d Death, and bade him with his ministers attend, 
 Thro paths of space to take his way this guilty land to rend. 
 
 xnr. 
 Then from the gloomy realm s beneath, Death s hollow answer 
 
 rung, 
 
 And from their secret palaces, the whistling whirlwinds sprung, 
 The earthquakes from their caverns, the lightning and the fire, 
 The thunders and the storms, the tempests wild and dire ; 
 The gases of the ocean were ready to ignite, 
 The pestilence that wasteth t ward the fair earth took its flight, 
 

 A DAY DREAM. 151 
 
 All the elements of death were marshalled to ascend, 
 
 And Mercy hid her weeping face, her reign was at an end ; 
 
 Fate almost had placed her signature upon the fiat stern, 
 
 And vengeance whet his shining sword, e en Pity ceased to mourn. 
 
 Farewell, 0, fruitful earth, fair plains and golden hills ; 
 
 Your reign of sin is ended, Fate approves and Justice wills, 
 
 The elements of Death are on their upward way, 
 
 The earthquakes tremblings have begun, the lightnings flash 
 
 and play, 
 
 The storm is on the march, the fire is kindling now, 
 The thunders in their gloomy realms are muttering harsh and low ; 
 O er the battlements of Heaven the gorgeous armies bend, 
 To witness, while destruction shall this erring planet rend: 
 But see ! a radiant form stand s gently forth from Heaven, 
 Her robes are all of Paradise, bright as stars of summer s even ; 
 How fair, how sweetly beautiful, what child of earth may know, 
 How impossible such loveliness to realize below ! 
 Immortal flowers in heavenly wreaths, her radiant brow entwine, 
 A stainless robe flow d o er her form, and God s own signet shined 
 Upon her hand, which quivering held a golden sceptre high; 
 At sight of the fair being, arrested was each eye, 
 And when upon the golden streets her light foot noiseless stept, 
 Each murmur ceased, and silence o er Heaven s high mansion 
 
 crept. 
 
 xiv. 
 
 Fairest of Heavens inhabitants, her sacred name was Love, 
 The sweetest, mildest, holiest name in all the realms above, 
 And she raised her shinning sceptre up, and bade the bright host 
 there 
 
152 A DAY DREAM. 
 
 Listen, and each voice was hushed in that assembly fair, 
 Each harp of paradise was still, and lo ! from earth arose 
 A wail as sad, as plaintive, as when the drear wind blows, 
 And yet, twas sweet and beautiful, and every ear was thrill d, 
 And many an angel s eye, with tears of pity filTd. 
 
 xv. 
 
 And lo ! far down from earth s dark shores, arose a mother s 
 
 prayer, 
 
 Twas for an only son, who had gone away afar, 
 To swelter, and to toil in this land, so strange and wild, 
 And she prayed for God s protection upon her wand ring child, 
 And low, and sweet that yearning prayer, amid Heaven s arches 
 
 rung, 
 
 And further o er the glist ning walls, the raptured legions hung, 
 To catch that thrilling prayer that unattended, strayed 
 From earth s low shores to where on high God s armies are arrayed; 
 It ceased at length, and Love drew nigh and clasp d stern Justice s 
 
 hand, 
 
 And whispered that another scheme to save the race she d planned, 
 And beg d that half a century more, but fifty years be given, 
 (Half a century of earth, a moment scarce of heaven;) 
 And Justice stern relented, and Fate put up his scroll, 
 The ministers of Death returned, the thunders ceased to roll ; 
 Stayed were earthquake, storm, and lightning, and holy Love 
 
 began 
 
 To execute her mighty task in regenerating man. 
 Swift she left the bowers of Heaven, and descending down to 
 
 earth, 
 In ten thousand female bosoms, gave her own blest spirit birth, 
 
A DAY PREAM. 163 
 
 And the mother s heart went yearning to the boy long gone away, 
 The wife s first fondness for her lord, in her soul again held sway; 
 Till forgotten were the dangers of the journey they should meet, 
 And they sought this stranger shore with bounding hearts and 
 
 eager feet. 
 
 How heavy were their trials, I need not tell you here, 
 How constant was the heart-ache, how bitter was the tear ; 
 With what terrible forebodings the mother s heart was fill d, 
 As she saw the sweet temptations spread out before her child, 
 And she clasp d it closer to her heart, as at midnight she would 
 
 hear 
 The curse of men imbruted, the sot, the reveller. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 How oft the husband and the father, would bent and reel ing come, 
 From haunts of dissipation to family and home ; 
 But anon, there came a change, a softness stole o er things, 
 Announcing better days, as the first warm breeze that wings 
 Its soft breath o er the winter s snow, in its whispers low is heard 
 Amidst the breath of flowers, the song of many a bird. 
 
 XVII. 
 
 The mild rebuke of loving eyes, men began at length to fear, 
 And nerves of iron learned to soften at a tear, 
 And brows that could unflinching gaze on terror s direst form?, 
 That o er life s uneven journey, loved best its strifes and storms, 
 Learned at length to melt beneath the smile of woman s eyes, 
 And her white arm bent in pleading, could the mightiest barriers 
 
 raise ; 
 
 Between them and an evil way, the school-house rose anon, 
 The church-spire pointed heavenward, bidding erring man return ; 
 
154r A DAY DREAM. 
 
 Men left their haunts of wickedness to train their garden flowers, 
 
 And in the smiles of home forget sin s gilded bowers ; 
 
 And the fair lands bloomed in beauty, the mountains gave their 
 
 gold, 
 
 The earth in richer beauty, did its flowers and fruits unfold, 
 For the smile of Heaven was on the land, and on the phoenix s 
 
 wing 
 
 Did the votaries of learning their highest honors bring ; 
 And art, and science flourished, e en poetry had birth, 
 Till now, the fair land blooms, indeed the wonder of the earth. 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 There was joy last night in Heaven, the fifty years were past, 
 And Justice, stern, was satisfied, and man was saved at last, 
 And Mercy was rejoiced, and Fate did glad approve, 
 And a crown of Heaven s eternal gems the angels gave to Love. 
 
WANDERINGS AND DREAMINGS. 
 
 FRAGMENTS FROM AN OLD JOURNAL, 
 
 Old Genesee ! There is a feeling wild 
 
 That thrills me at the mention of thy name ; 
 
 In memory fond again, as when a child, 
 
 I see thee, fair and lovely, aye, the same 
 
 As when long, long ago I from thee came, 
 
 Anxious to bare my bosom to the storms 
 
 Which must be baffled ere the beacon flame 
 
 Of Glory lights the lofty soul and warms, 
 
 And round a mortal structure wreathes immortal charms. 
 
 ii. 
 
 But I am humbled now, for I have learned 
 That fame is but a gewgaw, which allures, 
 A bauble vain, at best full hardly earned 
 A transient something, which not long endures, 
 And ne er delights without alloy secures. 
 And so, I ask for nothing here below, 
 Except the peace a guileless soul insures ; 
 So let Life s current move with noiseless flow 
 On to that everlasting deep, where all must go. 
 
166 WANDERINGS AND DREAMINGS. 
 
 III. 
 
 Old Genesee ! It was an Autumn morn 
 
 That I departed from thy hallowed bounds ; 
 
 Thy hills were yellow with the golden corn, 
 
 My ears were greeted with the merry sounds 
 
 Of joyful huskers, in their daily rounds ; 
 
 The sere leaves dropped from off the forest trees, 
 
 The shining plow-share turned its darkened mounds, 
 
 The sky was sad, and coldly sighed the breeze, 
 
 As I, in wandering, sought my feverish dreams to ease. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Ah ! well that morn do I remember now. 
 
 What were my thoughts ? I know, but shall I tell? 
 
 Let others, who have felt the same, say how 
 
 The soul is rent at bidding home farewell; 
 
 How chokingly the heart will throb and swell, 
 
 How the unbidden tear will find its course, 
 
 Why every farewell seems a funeral knell, 
 
 Choking Life s fountain at its very source, 
 
 And changing happiness to sorrow and remorse. 
 
 v. 
 
 The iron steed was harnessed to the car, 
 I heard his breath in quick, harsh pantings go ; 
 The bell was sounded, and with creak and jar. 
 The train moved on, more swift than ocean s flow ; 
 But swifter, through my mind, than tempest s flow, 
 Thoughts strange and wild were sweeping, for the home 
 Of youth and childhood disappeared, and lo ! 
 O er the wide world alone Life s bark must roam 
 Who knows to what mysterious realms at length twill come? 
 
WANDERINGS AND DREAMINGS. 157 
 
 VI. 
 
 As hurried on the train, I saw the spire 
 
 Of the old church where I d so oft repaired, 
 
 And heard the tunings of the heavenly lyre, 
 
 And in Eternal Life s rich lessons shared ; 
 
 I heard, but how profited ? Oh! how endeared 
 
 The joys of earth appear unto the soul ; 
 
 How close twill cling to them, almost unfeared, 
 
 Though Death s dark chariot doth before it roll, 
 
 And dread eternity is so near the certain goal ! 
 
 VII. 
 
 I saw beside the golden sunbeams rest 
 
 On a cold tomb, whose inmates hold a place 
 
 The dearest, midst the treasures of my breast. 
 
 In its far wanderings, oft my mind doth trace 
 
 The lineaments of each familiar face ; 
 
 Our mother, brothers, sisters, one by one, 
 
 Are gone ; and at their feet, two mounds embrace 
 
 A little happy pair, whose race was run 
 
 Long, long before my own unhappy course begun. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 Swift on our way, and yet one more Farewell! 
 
 Old Caledonia, one adieu for thee ! 
 
 Full in its thankfulness my heart doth swell, 
 
 When I recall thy kindnesses to me ; 
 
 Land of the generous hearted and the free, 
 
 My soul is bound to thee with deathless ties ; 
 
 They change not, though between us rolls the sea, 
 
 And forests wave and cold blue mountains rise, 
 
 Thou land of dancing feet, warm hearts and sparkling eyes. 
 
158 WANDERINGS AND DREAMINQS. 
 
 IX. 
 
 There dwell descendants of that mighty race 
 Of which the immortal bards of Scotland sung ; 
 Their eyes of pride, their forms of strength and grac, 
 Proclaim the lineage high from whence they sprung. 
 Their mighty sires are sleeping now among 
 Scotland s high mountains, and beside her streams, 
 Which through those highlands ever wander on, 
 O er rocky chasms and through dark ravines, 
 And with their rnurmurings, lull the weary shepherd s 
 dreams. 
 
 x. 
 
 Two score years since, from out those fastnesses 
 A little band appeared and westward hied ; 
 They brave the sea, through unknown wilds they press, 
 And sit them" down by Genesee s dark tide, 
 (Which there, midst vallies, beautiful doth glide,) 
 With nerves of steel and hearts of stalwart might. 
 Of their new home, the labors they defied ; 
 Behind them shone integrity s fair light, 
 And hope along their future beamed supremely bright. 
 
 XI. 
 
 The wilderness was peopled, and the sound 
 Of falling forests echoed on the gale, 
 As each old oak or maple, with a bound, 
 Leaped from its hight, and like a warrior, fell ; 
 Or, as goes down at sea some gallant sail, 
 Their leafy tops bowed to the woodman s stroke, 
 As plied the axe of each enduring Gael, 
 And loud the murmurs of the woods awoke, 
 As limb upon descending limb was rent and broke. 
 
WANDERINGS AND DREAMINGS. 159 
 
 XII. 
 
 But age, with silent step, creeps over all, 
 
 And of that gallant band, but few remain ; 
 
 For one by one they ve bowed to Death s loud call, 
 
 And now by Allen s noble stream are lain, 
 
 Which sweeps majestically through the plain. 
 
 But go there, stranger, and thou wilt behold 
 
 A garden smile, and in each face I ween 
 
 Thou lt mark the features generous, but bold, 
 
 "Which show the race to which their sires belonged of old. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 And all the ideal splendors which do throng, 
 
 In matchless grandeur through a Scottish mind; 
 
 Those splendors which are pictured in this song, 
 
 And which romance hath round their history twined. 
 
 Amidst their children still those gems you find ; 
 
 With hearts which burn with love and friendship s ray, 
 
 With forms of strength and beauty rare, combined, 
 
 With souls as free as wine on holiday, 
 
 To such, a sad farewell I gave, and turned away. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 I turned away, and yet returned again, 
 
 To wave a last farewell to one as fair 
 
 As ever yet was praised by tongue or pen ; 
 
 Who, like a sweet dream, rose before me there, 
 
 A bright star on the night of my despair ; 
 
 And though since then have circled weary years, 
 
 Still when I gaze down memories cloisters fair, 
 
 Ever her form, midst that fair hall appears 
 
 The sweetest, and I gaze till tis obscured by tears. 
 
160 WANDERINGS AND DKEAMINGS. 
 
 XV. 
 
 Despite the headlong speed, one place I mark, 
 
 I see it smiling neath its chesnut shade ; 
 
 "Pis wisdom s shrine, where ignorance, though dark 
 
 And lusterless, by learning is arrayed 
 
 In spotless robes which cannot stain or fade ; 
 
 But which, when worn, more beautiful do grow ; 
 
 A vesture rare, with priceless gems inlaid ; 
 
 A glorious radiance ever round the brow, 
 
 A bulwark that the mighiest may not overthrow. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 A league from Rochester, it eastward lies, 
 
 And Clover street is its facetious name ; 
 
 Twas given by one, who in Rome s palmiest days 
 
 Might, had he lived, have stood a child of fame ; 
 
 Such germs of greatness his stern soul might claim, 
 
 Full many fairy, nymph-like forms there meet, 
 
 And soft cheeks blush, and sparkling eyes there flame, 
 
 And wavy curls, white arms, and voices sweet, 
 
 And gentle bosoms heaving make the charm complete. 
 
 XVII. 
 
 But darkness now has fallen on that fair shrine ; 
 Its guardian angel wearied, fell asleep; 
 She, around whom, every virtue did entwine ; 
 She whose pure lips of wisdom drank so deep 
 Has passed away, and they can only weep, 
 Lamenting tears at memory of their loss ; 
 Would that my soul in one exalted sweep, 
 Could in just eulogy her worth emboss, 
 Twould change Celestia almost to Celestial Bloss. 
 
WANDERINGS AND DREAMINGS. 161 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 But in a moment, all had disappeared, 
 
 For hours the train flew on its iron wings, 
 
 Till finally some pine-clad hills we neared, 
 
 Along whose base the sable Mohawk sings, 
 
 Fed by its thousand tributary springs ; 
 
 And midst those hills I tarried for a space 
 
 And wandered where a mighty forest swings 
 
 Its awful shadow over Nature s face, 
 
 Folding that waste for many leagues in cold embrace. 
 
 XIX. 
 
 And here supreme the red man dwelt of old; 
 
 Beneath these shades have savage warriors slept 
 
 And sung their songs and told their legends bold, 
 
 Or couched in secret ambush, stealthy crept 
 
 Or from these wilds in desolation swept, 
 
 In vengeance, on their " pale faced " enemy ; 
 
 And for her lover here the maiden wept, 
 
 ( And wild lamenting woke her plantive cry ) 
 
 Who many moons before went forth to war and die. 
 
 xx. 
 
 Romantic place ! A beautiful resort 
 To view the wonders of Omnipotence ! 
 Behind those hills the storm-king holds his court ; 
 The winds and winged lightnings journey hence; 
 And the soft flower with lustre so intense 
 Blooms in the path primeval earthquakes tread, 
 And here, too, in this wilderness immense, 
 The Indian mourner comes, his tears to shed, 
 
 For neath that mound there lies a generation dead, 
 12 
 
162 WANDERINGS AND DREAMINGS. 
 
 XXI. 
 
 A lovely place and not unlike the Heaven 
 
 The faithful savage hopes at last to share, 
 
 By the great Spirit to his loved ones given 
 
 Those soft Elysian fields forever fair; 
 
 There the Great Spirit hears the Indian s prayer, 
 
 There never thunders growl nor lightnings blaze, 
 
 There sweet flowers bloom, luxuriant and rare, 
 
 And in perpetual sunshine s genial rays, 
 
 Thro beautious hunting grounds they wander endless days 
 
 XXII. 
 
 How different the Christian s hope of Heaven ! 
 
 That shining city far away in space, 
 
 The everlasting morn that knows no even, 
 
 Lit by the glories of Jehovah s face, 
 
 And angel forms ineffable in grace, 
 
 The pearly gates, the wall, and golden streets, 
 
 And where Life s crystal river soft doth trace 
 
 Its murmuring course beside the blissful seats, 
 
 And where the Tree of Life blooms with eternal Bweeta. 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 Those golden harps upon whose echoing strings 
 
 Seraphim and Cherubim delight to play, 
 
 Until reverberating Heaven rings, 
 
 And angels bow at the enchanting lay, 
 
 And cast their diadems of gems away 
 
 At the feet of him who sits upon the throne, 
 
 And from the clouds and darkness sends his sway 
 
 Far off unto Creation s endless zone 
 
 The awful ruling God and great Eternal One. 
 
WANDERINGS AND DREAMINGS. 163 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 Oh ! happy thought, that when this life of toil 
 
 Is ended, we may bask amidst those sweets, 
 
 If we but faithful are while here, and all 
 
 Our pride repent, and envyings and deceits, 
 
 And heed when conscience s warning voice entreats. 
 
 Blest thought ! it gives the spirit wings to soar 
 
 When ebbing Life s pulsation feebly beats, 
 
 When earthly consolations soothe no more, 
 
 And the departing spirit hears Death s billows roar. 
 
 xxv. 
 
 I know tis so ; I saw a brother die 
 When manhood s sun was at its zenith hight ; 
 I saw him as he closed his dying eye 
 I witnessed when his spirit took its flight, 
 Borne on the winds of that tempestuous night. 
 I watched the last throb of his suffering breast; 
 I knew that heaven was breaking on his sight, 
 For when the last dread agony was past, 
 A smile of joy lit up his countenance at last 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 But I digress. Once more away, and lo ! 
 
 One more farewell to give, one more to hear, 
 
 And then no pause until the solemn flow 
 
 Of sable Hudson greets my listening ear. 
 
 Hark ! even now it doth the silence scare 1 
 
 Thou glorious Hudson, calm, majestic stream, 
 
 On to the ocean let thy waters bear ! 
 
 E en while I gaze, thy shores in beauty seem 
 
 More than to realize some bard s enchanted dream. 
 
164 WANDERINGS AND DREAMINGS. 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 Strange were my thoughts, as by the silent light 
 That gilds at night the star s resplendent steep, 
 As the rushing steamer with its arms of might 
 Did through the sable Hudson s waters sweep, 
 Of many things I thought, sad things and deep ; 
 That evening I had grasped the trembling hand 
 Of an early friend, the last that I should greet 
 Till I had traversed ocean s pathways grand, 
 And wandering tread o er many a distant land, 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 Dimly the stars shone on that Autumn eve, 
 
 For clouds and darkness veiled the brow of night, 
 
 But swift could Fancy her light fabrics weave, 
 
 And chase her thousand victims in their flight; 
 
 But mine did most in solemn mood delight, 
 
 An d little did I heed the lovely shore 
 
 Or the deep river rolling in its might, 
 
 Or the huge enginery s incessant roar, 
 
 For mind went rambling back midst happy paths of yore, 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 The midnight winds in mournful columns swept, 
 
 Their viewless bands played many a mournful air 
 
 As on the steamer s snowy deck I stepped ; 
 
 And lo ! my eyes were greeted with the glare 
 
 (Blazing far off amidst the darkness drear) 
 
 Of myriad lights burning through royal streets ; 
 
 And then I knew that we were hastening near 
 
 The Western World s metropolis to seats 
 
 Where commerce dwells, where every vice and virtue meets. 
 
WANDERINGS AND DEEAMINGS. 165 
 
 XXX. 
 
 The steamer anchored, and all to depart 
 
 Hastened ; I paused a little space to hear 
 
 The throbbing of the mighty city s heart, 
 
 As its low beating fell upon my ear 
 
 In ceaseless murmurs, solemn, deep, and drear 
 
 As when Vesuvius breathes her sulphurous breath 
 
 Until the great mountain groans, or as where 
 
 The midnight storm moans through some forest path, 
 
 Or where the eternal waves of ocean break in wrath. 
 
 XXXL 
 
 A space I tarried midst the busy streets, 
 And gazed upon the goodly works which there, 
 On every hand, one s wandering glances meet ; 
 Some dark as night, some like the morning, fair, 
 But most I loved to wend my footsteps where 
 The voiceless monument told of the dead 
 Of those who died midst the storms of war, 
 Or where by flood or fire Death s shafts were sped, 
 Or where, chased bj disease, the fearful soul had fled. 
 
 XXXIL 
 
 How long I gazed upon the banners hung * 
 In token of a nation s latest grief} 
 Those sable ensigns told a tale which wrung 
 A million hearts which sought in vain relief; 
 For he who midst earth s great ones was a chief, 
 At Marshfield slept ; nor could the heaving sea 
 With its deep murmurs pierce the ear so deaf, 
 Or the burning lip unseal, or ope that eye 
 That ever kindled at the voice of ocean melody. 
 Norn-Written October 30th, 1852. 
 
166 VTANDERINGS AND DREAMINOS. 
 
 XXXIII. 
 
 Great WeDster! rest thee by the hearing sea! 
 
 Thy simple tomb is sacred, for thy mind 
 
 On earth was wreathed with folds of majesty, 
 
 Fairer than e er on royal brow was twined, 
 
 So high, so wide, so deep, and so refined. 
 
 From earliest years had genius loved the child, 
 
 And loving him, his humble lattice climbed 
 
 And laid her signet on the sleeper mild,. 
 
 Who in a dream first seized it with a life-grasp wild. 
 
 XXXIY. 
 
 It kindled in his raven eye its light, 
 Till wondering Senates bowed beneath its sheen,. 
 The Demon of Disunion fled its might, 
 And sovereigns made obeisance to his pen ; 
 For half a century his form was seen 
 The vanguard of his nation ; by the day 
 A friendly cloud the burning sun to screen 
 At night a "fiery pillar" on the way, 
 Revealing the proud hights where glory s trophies lay, 
 
 XXXY. 
 
 Perhaps his lip had not the silvery stress 
 
 Of him who sleeps by wild Kentucky s caves, 
 
 Whose sweetness stole away men s hearts, like kiss. 
 
 Of maiden, and flowed upon the soul in waves. 
 
 Of melody, to startle and amaze 
 
 Imagination, as it tries to grasp 
 
 Those burning thoughts that from his great mind blazed, 
 
 Like floods of evening twilight through the trees. 
 
 And soft as the low chant of wild birds on the breeze. 
 
WANDERINGS AND DREAMINGS. 1 67 
 
 XXXVI. 
 
 May be, he did not claim so fierce a soul 
 
 As Carolina s proud and fiery sage, 
 
 Who thought to rend the Union, and to roll 
 
 Its fragments back upon oblivion s page 
 
 Back where they had slumbered from age to age, 
 
 Till Washington, surrounded by that band 
 
 Which watched the "ship of State" amidst the rage 
 
 Of revolution, raised them in his hand 
 
 And built that structure, beautiful, august and grand. 
 
 XXXVII. 
 
 That structure, beautiful indeed and grand ! 
 
 So beautiful that distant nations view 
 
 Its shining light with joy unequaled land, 
 
 That in her childhood rent her chains, and threw 
 
 Them hence, and then a blast of Freedom blew, 
 
 So loud, that earth was startled from the spell 
 
 That tyranny had bound her in, till now 
 
 On every breeze there comes a note to tell 
 
 The echoes of that clarion voice still break and swell. 
 
 XXXVIII. 
 
 But Webster s eloquence was like the peal 
 
 Of some vast organ in its melody ; 
 
 Its trumpet echoes o er the soul would swell, 
 
 And then come back in their deep harmony, 
 
 And murmur sacred strains to memory ; 
 
 His solemn words fell on the listening ear 
 
 In tones so calm that more, from day to day, 
 
 As they M r ere pondered on, their weight did bear, 
 
 And their majestic depths unto the mind appear. 
 
168 WANDERINGS AND DREAMINGS. 
 
 XXXIX. 
 
 But he seemed ever greatest unto me 
 
 As he left Fame s honored seats, her strifes and jars, 
 
 And sought his quiet home beside the sea, 
 
 To listen as its murmurs smote his ears, 
 
 To talk at evening with the quiet stars, 
 
 Watching the flocks and herds he so much loved, 
 
 Or musing on the fate that coming years 
 
 Would roll upon his country, as it moved 
 
 "Still high advanced 1 and free, by no fell foe disturbed. 
 
 XL. 
 
 And then the calmness of that fearful hour, 
 While treading down the pathway dark to death, 
 When earthly pomp, and majesty, and power, 
 Supported not, nor caused the struggling breath 
 To journey easier up. Oh! it doth wreathe 
 The freshest laurels round his mighty brow ! 
 His faults are all forgotten, and beneath 
 His funeral pall a thousand hearts o erflow, 
 And through the land there rolls one plaintive note of woe. 
 
 XLI. 
 
 Twas noon in Washington ! The golden rays 
 Around the Capitol in splendor swept ; 
 All o er its domes and pinnacle a blaze 
 Of bright effulgence like a meteor swept, 
 On the monuments of marble leaped, 
 And glittered on Potomac in its flow, 
 As toward the bay its course it ceaseless kept ; 
 But brighter than the sunlight was the glow 
 Of proud and beaming eyes that flashed up from below. 
 
WANDERINGS AND DREAMINGS. 169 
 
 XLII. 
 
 The nation s fair and mighty ones were there 
 
 The maiden in her beauty, gems and pride, " 
 
 The hero with his stern and gallant air, 
 
 The Senator with haughty look and stride, 
 
 The sage, whose burning words a people swayed, 
 
 The child, the youth, the venerable old, 
 
 Whose life-streams ebbed close down to death s dark tide, 
 
 That leaden sea whose billows drear and cold, 
 
 Have o er a thousand generations broke and rolled. 
 
 SLIII. 
 
 Why congregated thus those peerless ones 
 The beautiful, the brave, the gorgeous band? 
 What meant the booming of those signal guns ? 
 Why swelled that heavenly music o er the land ? 
 Why stood they there so silent and so grand? 
 List ye ! the inaugural hour s begun 
 The "helm of State" obeys another s hand, 
 The solemn oath is taken, ail is done, 
 An hour rolls by the splendid pageantry is gone. 
 
 XLIV. 
 
 In a little space the same scene will transpire ; 
 The same wild joy will fill a nation s breast, 
 The same sun kindle then its glassy fire 
 On Capitol and monumental crest, 
 And on the sombre domes resplendent rest ; 
 Just such rich strains of music thrilling sweet, 
 Shall float upon the air like spirits blest, 
 Just such a throng shall fill the crowded street, 
 The same Potomac murmur softly at their feet. 
 
170 WANDERINGS AND DREAMINGS. 
 
 XLT. 
 
 But there ll he vacancies in that array 
 
 Vacancies time will hesitate to fill ; 
 
 Death points his shafts upon the noblest prey, 
 
 Far on the shining hights of glory s hill, 
 
 And pomp, and power, and greatness nought avail, 
 
 When in the gloom he doth his terrors shake, 
 
 E en fame s resplendent shield to earth doth fall ; 
 
 Oh, why could not his bolts o er peasants quake, 
 
 And not the fairest pillars of a nation break ? 
 
 XLVI. 
 
 First, Carolina s joy, the proud Calhoun, 
 From Senate with a stately tread retired 
 When Death announced his doom, alas ! too soon ; 
 Yet with a haughty look the sage expired, 
 And to tie last his fearless eye was fired, 
 As when alone a Senate he defied 
 With lightning glance, and lip Genius inspired, 
 Ad when eternal snows from Andes glide, 
 His mighty spirit fled in majesty he died. 
 
 XL VI I. 
 
 And next the generous Taylor heard the call, 
 
 And hearing, hastened quickly to obey. 
 
 He feared not Death ; he d seen his dread bolts fall, 
 
 He d seen him midst the smoke of carnage prey 
 
 Exultingly upon the heaps which lay 
 
 Kent by the winged ball or sabre s sweep. 
 
 His "duty done," in peace he passed away; 
 
 As when a sudden tempest rends the deep, 
 
 And sinks the full sailed argosy, he fell asleep. 
 
"WANDERINGS AND PREAMINGS. 
 XLVIII. 
 
 Insatiate Death ! Next on Consumption s wing, 
 
 He hovered round the "Glory of tne West," 
 
 And Ashland s sage, of orators the king, 
 
 Bowed in submission to the stern behest ; 
 
 Death hushed alas ! his burning lips in rest, 
 
 And robbed the splendors from the eagle eye, 
 
 Whose brilliances could ever fire the breast ; 
 
 As sinks the sun adown the sable sky, 
 
 Flooding the solemn world with glory, CLAY did die ! 
 
 XLIX. 
 
 And mighty Webster followed him anon ; 
 Death s clarion sounded sweetly in his ear ; 
 He felt that his stupendous works were done, 
 He knew those works his monument would rear, 
 He knew his name wo aid be a spell-word dear 
 Unto his countrymen, and to the call 
 Of the grim foe, he bent without a fear, 
 And passed away as earth will, when the roll 
 Of Heaven s chariot resounds from pole to pole. 
 
 L, 
 
 And many another high and shining star 
 Has disappeared from out that cluster bright, 
 Which spread its intellectual light afar, 
 Amidst the darkness of the nation s night ; 
 Spreading adown the gloom a beacon light ; 
 That shining cluster, that majestic band, 
 The common eye is dazzled by the sight. 
 That constellation, beautiful and grand, 
 The rarest earthly work of the Creator s hand. 
 
WANDERINGS AND DUEAMINGS. 
 LI. 
 
 My country! if thou hast no mouldering walls, 
 
 Or broken columns with the ivy twined, 
 
 No silent temples or deserted halls, 
 
 Or palaces with hieroglyphics lined, 
 
 Or towers collosal to acquaint the mind, 
 
 With works performed in long forgotten years, 
 
 To mark where early generations pined, 
 
 Where mingled with the peasants sweat, his tears, 
 
 Still thou hast monuments that nobler glory bears. 
 
 LII. 
 
 For Liberty supremely crowns thy hills, 
 And holds her court beside thy rushing streams, 
 And Virtue from her heavenly hight, distills 
 Upon the goodly land her golden beams ; 
 Upon each lowly spire her image gleams. 
 And freedom s ensigns from each mount doth wave 
 And glory watches o er thy shrines ; in dreams 
 Full oft I ve seen her sacred splendors lave, 
 The Hermitage, and hallowed Mt. Vernon s grave. 
 
CANTO SECOND. 
 
 i, 
 
 Eternal ocean ; now from earth I turn, 
 I seek thy changing waves, for they re like me, 
 Unsatisfied ; repose they ever shun ; 
 Ruffled by every breath that sweeps o er thee ; 
 Thus imaging my mind, thou fickle sea ; 
 My mind upon which fancy loves to glide, 
 As love the winds thy waves to toss in glee T 
 Ebbing and flowing, like thy restless tide, 
 Finding no rest, but breakers stern on every side. 
 
 ii. 
 
 Behold ! I m standing on a vessel s deck, 
 The hiss of steam comes fiercely from below, 
 And quickly at the stern commander s beck 
 The seamen with their cry of " Yo heave, To," 
 Each plank and anchor from their fastings throw, 
 And from her mooring breaks the mighty ship, 
 And the white waves behind her huge wheels flow, 
 And wild before the prow the bubbles skip, 
 And up on high afar the frightened spray doth leap. 
 
WANDERINGS AND DEEAMIXGS. 
 III. 
 
 And now, the last "farewell" rings from the shore, 
 The last fair hand waves o er a fairer brow ; 
 And the huge enginery s increasing roar 
 Tells that the ship is in her pathway now, 
 And fiercely through the waters doth she plow ; 
 And stretching like a willing steed away, 
 A swath of foam rolls each way from her prow ; 
 She bursts in splendor down the crowded bay, 
 And seems untaught to know her tortuous way. 
 
 IT. 
 
 Park, garden, battery, fade upon the view; 
 The mighty city fast doth disappear ; 
 The lofty spires and monuments grow few, 
 And nought is seen along the shores, where rear 
 A thousand stately ships their masts, and sere, 
 And coldly sweeps across the deck, the wind ; 
 And through the heart there creeps almost a fear, 
 As sinks far, far abaft the solid land, 
 And ocean s billows roll before so dark and grand. 
 
 v. 
 
 I gazed around me, and I saw the tear 
 Start suddenly from many a silent eye ; 
 And sounds of smothered weeping shook the ear, 
 As from a few hearts overcharged, the sigh 
 Broke chokingly, as though the chords which tie 
 About the heart were bound upon the shore, 
 And one by one were breaking, as her way 
 The vessel sought, and on toward ocean bore, 
 Bursting apart each billow as she through them tore. 
 
WANDERINGS AND DNEAMINGS. 17 
 
 VI. 
 
 The clouds arc gone ; the sun, a mass of fire, 
 Hangs for a moment o er the dreadful waves ; 
 Then slow his beauteous, burning beams retire, 
 As if to pierce the deep sea s fearful caves ; 
 Perhaps to light the solemn ocean s graves. 
 The stars come one by one, out on the sky, 
 Each shining gem that heaven s great surface paves ; 
 The solemn moon sweeps through her course on high, 
 And with the ocean s anthem blends the sea birds cry. 
 
 VII. 
 
 The deck is quite deserted, for the air 
 Comes coolly from the surface of the deep ; 
 But I must watch on high each wandering star 
 That dances through the night while mortals sleep. 
 In measures vast and beautiful they sweep, 
 Their music is the murmuring of the spheres, 
 Their mighty hall is Heaven s resplendent steep, 
 And thus they circle on through endless years, 
 Shining upon the heaven s pure brow like angels tears, 
 
 VIII. 
 
 Ah ! strange the thoughts that fill the dreamy mind, 
 
 As the first night we journey on the deep ; 
 
 The heart is beating for the home behind, 
 
 Too loud to let the weary eye-lid sleep; 
 
 And the courageous soul takes in its sweep 
 
 A future life, and paints in colors gay, 
 
 Fair thrones of beauty on Hope s hills that keep, 
 
 Howe er we turn, directly in our way, [l a y. 
 
 Entwined with Glory s wreaths, echoing with Fame s proud 
 
176 WANDERINGS AND DREAMINGS. 
 
 IX. 
 
 But morning dawns at last upon the wave, 
 
 And naught appears except the rolling tides 
 
 Which foam and beat against the ship, and lave 
 
 With briny torrents her unyielding sides, 
 
 And through the merry white-caps swift she glides ; 
 
 The clouds in masses sweep adown the sky, 
 
 In dark battalions as a squadron rides 
 
 To battle on their dusky columns fly, 
 
 Till they re o erwhelmed at last where the sea-demons lie. 
 
 x. 
 
 Tis morning, and the Sabbath morning, too ; 
 That sacred day Jehovah framed for rest ; 
 When earth, completed, first her orbit knew, 
 And God looked on it from his throne and blessed 
 The work, and all the joyful stars confessed 
 In songs of praise, the reverence due that power, 
 Which from oblivion at his high behest, 
 Could bring a constellation in an hour, 
 And make its path through space, harmonious, secure, 
 
 XI. 
 
 How sweetly sounds the anthem on the sea ; 
 
 So thrilling are its tones, so low and rare { 
 
 And now the minister on bended knee, 
 
 In earnest supplication murmurs there, 
 
 Upon the rolling deck, the fervent prayer, 
 
 That He who rules the ocean and the storm, 
 
 YJould from our pathway every danger clear ; 
 
 And stretching o er us his Almighty arm 
 
 Would keep us with his power from every sin and harm. 
 
WANDERINGS AND DREAMINGS. 177 
 
 XII. 
 
 The Sabbath and the ocean blend not well ; 
 
 Methinks some quiet valley suits it best ; 
 
 An humble church, a solemn tolling bell, 
 
 The thrilling chant, the prayer and anthem blest, 
 
 And not this wilderness, this endless waste 
 
 Of turbid billows surging in their might ; 
 
 More like some phalanx in disgraceful haste, 
 
 Seeking for safety in tumultuous flight, 
 
 And dashing gainst each other in their mad affright. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 Much did I think that morn of those on shore, 
 
 And that one little band remembered me I knew, 
 
 And talked of me, as with its angry roar 
 
 The winter tempest round their dwelling blew ; 
 
 I felt a solitary tear bedew 
 
 My cheek, I know not why it came, or how ; 
 
 Perhaps it was a broken wave, that threw 
 
 A briny drop upon me from below, 
 
 Or but the spray that flew back from the steamer s prow. 
 
 XIY. 
 
 But in my fancy s eye, the almond tree 
 I saw in blossom on my father s head, 
 For seventy years had bleached it, (aye, I see 
 The tears e en now, which down his sad cheeks sped, 
 When tremblingly the last farewell he said ;) 
 And methought my stern brothers, when they saw 
 The books I loved, the strings I rudely played, 
 Remembered me ; and sweet above the flow 
 
 Of waves, I heard a sister s prayer come soft and low. 
 13 
 
178 WANDERINGS AND DREAMINGS. 
 
 XT. 
 
 / A Bister s prayers ! Alas ! they sound no more, 
 Unless beyond the solemn grave they plead, 
 Upon that silent and mysterious shore, 
 Where spirits when from this poor body freed, 
 Upon the wings of thought exulting speed, 
 For they have gone to join those shining bands, 
 That in God s Paradise forever lead ; 
 (While vast eternity runs out its sands ;) 
 A life of ceaseless joy with love-clasped hearts and hands. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 Eternity ! I see thy emblem here, 
 
 Around me in old ocean s face ; 
 
 These awful waters look all blue and drear 
 
 As when Jehovah first their paths did trace, * . 
 
 And flung them whirling on through endless space ; 
 
 The same as when he formed them with the land, 
 
 And blessed them from the fountains of his grace ; 
 
 As when they first obeyed his dread command, 
 
 And rolled all deep and pure from his Almighty hand. 
 
 XVII. 
 
 What treasures thou hast hoarded up, old sea ! 
 How many gallant hearts have ceased to beat 
 Down where thy monsters hold their revelry ; 
 Down where thy tempests when they re spent, retreat. 
 Who knows what jewels thy dread caves secrete, 
 Or who can trace thy channels deep and dread ? 
 Or who can stay thy billows in their sweep ? 
 What means the solemn chanting of thy flood ? 
 Is it a ceaseless anthem to thy maker, God ? 
 
^WANDERINGS AND DREAMINGS. 179 
 
 XVIII, 
 
 Perhaps it is; could but a mortal ear 
 
 Be tuned to thy tremendous melody ; 
 
 Could we but comprehend the voice we hear, 
 
 When the sad winds along thy surges fly, 
 
 When wave and wind, together blend and sigh ; 
 
 May be, twould be to us a prelude given ; 
 
 A strain majestic of the song on high, 
 
 Whose tones sublime, like far off thunder driven, 
 
 Flow midst the splendors and the gorgeous scenes of heaven. 
 
 XIX. 
 
 Tis eve again ; another golden day, 
 
 Followed by another star-lit night, 
 
 And stormy Hatteras in our wake doth lay. 
 
 And o er the deck a warm breeze takes its flight. 
 
 Another day soft isles appear in sight, 
 Basking in fragrance midst those sunny seas, 
 
 And the strong vessel lightening of her freight, 
 
 And pressed abaft by a propitious breeze, 
 
 In gloom and grandeur sweeps adown the sable seas. 
 
 xx. 
 
 Upon the ninth morn we #woke, and lo ! 
 Our ocean castle rested on the bay ; 
 The waters slept about her tired prow ; 
 The weary enginery had ceased to play, 
 As if fatigued by the long billowy way, 
 For she had brought us from the snow crowned north, 
 To where perpetual summer holds its sway ; 
 From where fierce winter s storms in wrath go forth, 
 To where rich flowers eternal bloom to robe the earth. 
 
180 WANDERINGS ANP DREAMINOS. 
 
 XXI. 
 
 Three days we wandered on that Isthmus vile ; 
 
 Three days, whose horrors I will not repeat ; 
 
 That place e er blessed with Nature s kindest smile, 
 
 That place where Nature s richest beauties meet, 
 
 And yet, where sin and sickness keep their seat, 
 
 Midst winding paths, o er stream, defile and rock, 
 
 We toiled with scarce a sound the ear to greet, 
 
 Save where a Native s cry the silence broke, 
 
 Or when the thunders midst the hills their mutteringa woke, 
 
 XXII. 
 
 At length the western ocean came in view, 
 
 And tile-roofed Panama before vis rose ; 
 
 Dilapidated City, the mildew 
 
 Rests on thee, the flower midst ivy grows 
 
 On thy strong walls ; the strangers foot doth rouse 
 
 The liz^ard sleeping by thy crumbling gate ; 
 
 The dust of years upon thy shrines repose ; 
 
 Thou seem st a city of an earlier date, [late. 
 
 And lingering, crest-bow d, midst these modern years too 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 I thought, while standing on the moss-bound wall, 
 
 By those old guns that frown off o er the sea, 
 
 Of Spain, weak empire, tottering to its fall ; 
 
 And Spain, two centuries since, e er luxury 
 
 Made weak the glorious arm of chivalry ; 
 
 And then I gazed about me, sick at heart, 
 
 For nations flourish but to pass away, 
 
 As doth the insect in the sun-beam dart 
 
 It s hour of life, and die; so realms rise and depart. 
 
WANDERINGS AND DREAMINGS. 181 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 How long, my country, will thy stars arise ? 
 How long thy eagles, will they face the sun ? 
 How long before the storms which cloud thy skies 
 Will burst on thee and thy proud race be run? 
 Aye ! will it end, as glorious as it begun, 
 When Truth and Justice , marching hand in hand, 
 Steeled the stern sword of God-like Washington ; 
 While Freedom stretched her seeptcr o er the land, 
 And bound mountain and valley with a rosy band, 
 
 xxv. 
 
 But cease these dreams ! Once more upon the sea, 
 Once more with joy we walk a snowy deck; 
 Above us waves our country s ensign free ; 
 Their happiness, a thousand glad lips speak. 
 The eagle on the prow doth dip his beak 
 In every passing surge s foaming crest ; 
 From wave to wave, the gorgeous ship doth break, 
 In gloom and grandeur down the ocean s breast 
 As the sun in seas of gold rides down the azure west. 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 Tis eve ! and the moon, like a ship of the sky, 
 A spirit, her master sails through the night, 
 And rides up the billows of space, which lay 
 Twixt earth s dark shores and heaven s awful hight. 
 And sure, it is a most enchanting sight ; 
 The moon, the stars, the steamer and the deep, 
 All moving on in grandeur and in might, 
 As if on spirit messages they sweep, 
 Disturbing .the hushed hours that mortals sleep 
 
WANDERINGS AND DREAMING, 
 XXVII. 
 
 I loved to lean across the taffrail stern 
 
 At night, and gaze into the depths below, 
 
 And watch the phosphor fires which seemed to bura y 
 
 Where from the vessel s keel, the swift waves flow 
 
 In rainbow colors, blue and green, and snow ; 
 
 - /k. 
 
 And some, whose boiling heads seemed all on fire, 
 As back the thundering wheels, the foam, would throw 
 Twixt Art and Nature; that incessant ire, 
 Ah ! there s in it, what must for er the soul inspire* 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 Something exciting 1 Hear the steady roar 
 
 Of the tremendous enginery, whose might 
 
 Doth make the huge ship shake in every pore ; 
 
 As crashing through the waves- she takes her flight 
 
 r Gainst wind and mountain-billow ; oh ! how bright 
 
 Man s genius blazes in a work so vast I 
 
 To keep its path at sea through storms and night, 
 
 Unheeding tropic wind, or polar blast, 
 
 And allunhelped by snowy sail or towering mast. 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 Thus sailed we on for days, the sea was still ; 
 
 In dance and revelry, rolled by the hours, 
 
 And oft would music o er the waters steal, 
 
 As the " God of day " sunk neath his em rald bowers, 
 
 And the "queen of night" came rising from the towers 
 
 Of adamant, that skirt the ocean s coast, 
 
 Which, rising up in rude, disjointed layers, 
 
 Seem like the fragments of a mighty host, 
 
 The debris of an army, when the battle s lost,. 
 
WANDERINGS AND DREAMINGS. 183 
 
 XXX. 
 
 At length, an entrance opens in the shore, 
 
 And through a winding channel we proceed, 
 
 Meandering on until behold, before 
 
 Us, Acapulco rises ; rude it seems indeed, 
 
 For here the earthquake hath its trembling led, 
 
 And every house is tottering to a fall, 
 
 And prostrate neath the unseen monster s tread, 
 
 A city lies ; while round their altars kneel 
 
 The dark eyed senoritas, mingling prayer with wail. 
 
 XXXI. 
 
 Short space we tarried in that wretched place, 
 
 Wretched alas! although the fairest flowers 
 
 Do the bright breezes, with their blossoms, court, 
 
 And birds of gorgeous plumage fill the bowers 
 
 Of each old palm and orange grove, that towers 
 
 In wonderful luxuriousness on high, 
 
 Shedding their fragrance in perpetual showers 
 
 Of softest sweetness on the passer by [age lie ! 
 
 How sad, where Nature seems so gay, men s souls inbond- 
 
 XXXII. 
 
 And now the midnight watch is tolling drear ; 
 
 How solemn the vibrations of that bell ! 
 
 And yonder mariner says Death is near, 
 
 That those harsh sounds most surely are a knell, 
 
 Ringing a requiem to a parting soul ; 
 
 Deep in the ship a youth is dying now, 
 
 The waves of Death around him break and swell, 
 
 They fling their icy spray upon his brow, 
 
 And bear his breath away in one wild overflow. 
 
184 WANDERINGS AND DREAMINGS. 
 
 XXXIII. 
 
 Come, gather near ! behold a scene of death ! 
 
 See o er the pallid corse the mother bend, 
 
 And though those lips are moistened by no breath, 
 
 A sister fondly kisses them ; a brother s hand 
 
 Is clasped within the cold one firm; how blend 
 
 Those beating hearts around the still one there, 
 
 And while without the billows break and rend, 
 
 And midnight hangs her mantle on the air, 
 
 They kneel and mingle for the parted soul, a prayer, 
 
 XXXIT. 
 v 
 
 Anon the morning dawns ; the glorious sun 
 
 Rises in grandeur from the rock-bound hill ; 
 And o er waves of water, waves of sun-beams run ; 
 And see, upon the guards, close by the wheel, 
 The dead is laid, and all is hushed and still. 
 The rude shroud hides from view the ghastly brow ; 
 He heeds no more his anguished mother s call ; 
 The service said, they raise the plank and draw 
 Aside the sable flag he s gone forever now. 
 
 XXXV. 
 
 There s sadness in the vessel as she reels, 
 A3 if intoxicated, on her course, 
 And every heart a heavy sorrow feels, 
 And many a tear comes from its secret source, 
 And journeys down an anxious cheek per force. 
 The dance has ceased, and music s joyful tone 
 Has changed to one all plaintive o er the corse, 
 Which but an hour since, from the guard was thrown, 
 To moulder amidst ocean s dreadful depths alone. 
 
WANDERINGS AND DREAMINGS. 185 
 
 XXXVI. 
 
 And when hot noon again shone on the deck, 
 
 Another died, a noble, cheerful man ; 
 
 He d kissed a farewell on his fond wife s cheek; 
 
 He d pressed their infant to his breast, and then 
 
 With eye on fortune s goal he ran. 
 
 Alas ! his path was by the gates of Death ! 
 
 He ll fold those dear ones to his breast again 
 
 No more ; for in the stately vessel s path 
 
 His bones are whitening now, the wild waves far beneath. 
 
 XXXVII. 
 
 Perhaps in dreams of bliss his soul went out ; 
 
 May be his childhood s home was in his eye ; 
 
 Perhaps the bellowing ocean seemed the shout 
 
 Of his loved children, in their ecstacy, 
 
 As when at eve they came and climbed his knee : 
 
 Perhaps he woed again his bride at even, 
 
 And saw her gaze on him confidingly, 
 
 As when at first her maiden faith was given. [Heaven. 
 
 From dreams like these twere hardly sweet to wake iu 
 
 XXXVIII. 
 
 Gold ! How many heart-strings have been broken 
 
 In search of thec ! What dangers mortals dare 
 
 To garner thee, at best a sordid token, 
 
 Which soon must pass away. However fair 
 
 It beams upon the eye, twill not prepare 
 
 The soul of man for its high destinies ; 
 
 The bowers of paradise, effulgent, rare, 
 
 Need not its beauties, for those azure skies 
 
 Are flooded with a glory which ne er fades nor dies. 
 
WANDERINGS AND DREAMINGS. 
 XXXIX. 
 
 That land of everlasting happiness ; 
 
 What mind of man can comprehend that thought; 
 
 What lip of eloquence could e er express 
 
 The bliss with which that syllable is wrought ? 
 
 The bliss, the happiness, where never aught 
 
 Of sorrow or of suffering can come ; 
 
 That land that doth the weary soul await, 
 
 A beautiful, and an eternal home, 
 
 Beyond the folding doors of death and silent tomb. 
 
 XL. 
 
 And now a cooler breeze brings greeting dear, 
 
 And California s gulf lies on our right, 
 
 Paved with its floor of pearls, which pure and clear, 
 
 Gladden the fisherman s eager sight ; 
 
 And farther than the gulf in awful might 
 
 The mountains tower that skirt the rocky coast, 
 
 The sea birds round the vessel take their flight, 
 
 Their sable pinions in the cold spray toss d, 
 
 Or rising gaily up, are midst the stretched sails lost. 
 
 XLI. 
 
 Tvvas suu-set off St. Lucas; and by heaven, 
 A fairer twilight ne er pleased mortal eye ; 
 A line of light, a sable cloud had riven, 
 And like a sea of sapphire shone the sky, 
 In splendid and celestial panoply. 
 Some gifted angel must have sketched that scene ; 
 Some artist wandering from his seat on high. 
 I ve seen the day die, oft, but ne er I ween, 
 Saw I her dying brow so fair andjso serene. 
 
WANDERINGS AND DKEAMINGS. i 
 
 XLII. 
 
 The sun had gone, and yet his thousand beams 
 
 Seemed to support the west with studs of gold, 
 
 And crimson, purple, azure tinted streams 
 
 In swift succession o er the fair sky roll d, 
 
 In panorama, wondrous to behold ; 
 
 And the sea, to westward heaved in waves of fire, 
 
 And the irou-bound shore, rock-ribbed, and bold, 
 
 Blazed like a vast volcanic chain in ire, 
 
 Or like the closing day s bright-lighted funeral pyre-. 
 
 XLIIJ. 
 
 And soft the breeze comes o er the ocean now, 
 And every sail s unfurled above, beneath, 
 Until the canvass seems like wreaths of snow 
 Folded upon some mountain of the earth ; 
 And the fierce engines breathe their fiery breath, 
 And the good ship by double pressure driven, 
 Bursts through the billows like a bolt of death, 
 When God in anger hath a planet riven, 
 And rent a world in twain, in the high fields of Heaven. 
 
 XLIV. 
 
 But, hark I Along the deck rolls a command, 
 The seamen mount aloft with eager haste, 
 And loose the tightened sails with rapid hand, 
 And closely reefing them, secure them last 
 Against each branching spar and bending mast. 
 A tempest lurks in yonder inky cloud, 
 The ship is headed to withstand the blast, 
 The rising wind sweeps through each moaning shroud, 
 And the thunder o er the ocean mutters long and loud. 
 
188 WANDERINGS AND DREAMINGS. 
 
 XLT. 
 
 And listen ! O er the ocean comes a sound, 
 Awful as the arch-angel s trump of doom 
 Shall be, when earth her cycles all unwound, 
 Wrapped in her flame sinks to oblivion s tomb ; 
 But this is the approaching tempest s boom ; 
 See all around the troubled ocean boil ; 
 The waves go surging past, and the white foam 
 Bursts from their hundred mouths, as when in toil 
 A thousand wild steeds strain the hunters skill to foil. 
 
 XLVI. 
 
 ^.nd night is settling down in rayless gloom, 
 And clouds are covering all the dusky sky ; 
 And like the vanguard of a host, anon, 
 The white-capped surges splash and thunder by, 
 And fearful roars the agitated sea ; 
 The steamer s prow is turned away from laud ; 
 The viewless winds their dread reveille play, 
 And lo ! that mighty pibroch, shrill and grand, 
 Calls as the battle-trumpet calls, each wandering band. 
 
 XLVII. 
 
 )( Ocean has called up all her storms to-night ; 
 Oh ! see the huge waves bound along her breast, 
 And as they strike the ship, their giant might 
 Doth all her strength of fire and steam arrest, 
 And trembling on the waves from tallest mast 
 To lowest hold, she creaks in every beam ; 
 And like an eagle with a shaft-pierced breast, 
 Fluttering upon the plain with dying scream, 
 So she upon the waves did moaningly careen. 
 
WANDERINGS AND PREAMINGS. 189 
 
 XLVIII. 
 
 The storm doth thicken with the deepening night, 
 
 Till midnight closes down, awful and drear ; 
 
 Ye who, at such a time, in all its might, 
 
 Have seen the tempest o er the ocean bear ; 
 
 Have felt the planks beneath you lift and rear, 
 
 Have heard the war of elements, the roar 
 
 Of winds arid waters battling afar, 
 
 Did ye not fear at such an hour ? How poor 
 
 Was human strength, when Nature s forces gainst it bore, 
 
 XLIX. 
 
 Who knows but what the ocean worships now, 
 The God who framed the elements, and binds 
 The dusky billows in their glorious flow, 
 Who holds within His hands the sweeping winds. 
 Hark to the anthem \ which so solemn hymns 
 A song of praise up to Jehovah s ear ; 
 Perhaps it echoes heaven s awful strain, 
 When angel and arch-angel bows in fear ; 
 When the " organ of eternity " rolls deep and clear. 
 
 L. 
 
 Surge breaks on surge, and wave on wave doth beat, 
 The waters rave, the billows break around, 
 And like a mountain lifted from its seat 
 And hurled upon the world in fragments down, 
 By some strong earthquake from its proud hight thrown ; 
 So seemed that night the tempest-ridden sea ; 
 As if its secret spring were all up thrown, 
 And its lowest fountains opened wide and free, 
 Had mingled with the winds to make wild minstrelsy. 
 
WANDERINGS AND DREAMINGS. 
 LI. 
 
 And not a star of all the heavenly host 
 
 Appears above, to gladden us to-night ; 
 
 And e en the moon s pale splendors all are lost ; 
 
 Upon the reeling mast a lamp s dull light 
 
 Only adds horror to the dismal night ; 
 
 The eight bells strike on deck their midnight peal ; 
 
 While racked by sickcess, anguish and affright, 
 
 Weak women in their painful couches wail, 
 
 And strong men, trembling, listen to the warring gale. 
 
 LII. 
 
 As day appears, the ship is turned toward land, 
 Yet cautiously and fearfully keeps on her way, 
 For a rnist hangs down so dense on every hand, 
 Folding upon the sea her cloak of gray. 
 The dark night seems still struggling with day ; 
 The sea birds, with their wings so dark and large, 
 Sweep round us, then exulting soar away. 
 And see, Oh ! fearful night, yon breakers surge 
 On the bold shore, making a dismal and perpetual dirge. 
 
 LIII. 
 
 And if our vessel strikes, farewell our dreams ! 
 Her beauty and her strength will nought avail, 
 For rent in twain, her fragments may be seen, 
 But none of all on board shall tell the tale, 
 How, when the tempest did the sea assail, 
 The beautiful leviathan was lost ; 
 How storm-wrapped ocean, angered in a gale, 
 The noble ship upon the breakers toss d, 
 And stove her oaken beams upon the rock-bound coast. 
 
WANDERINGS AND DEEAMINGS. I VM 
 
 LIV. 
 
 But when the wild winds warred o er Gallilee, 
 
 Though all their tempests spent their fury there, 
 
 They quailed before the flashing of one eye ; 
 
 They yielded to a voice that low and clear, 
 
 Spake in a tone of half command, half prayer, 
 
 And bade the angry elements, "Be still!" 
 
 Who knows, but that voice sounds in ocean s ear 
 
 This morn, and doth its waters thrill, 
 
 As when two thousand years ago they yielded to His will ? 
 
 LV. 
 
 Howe er, it was within the Golden Gate 
 The steamer moored, and stepping from the plank, 
 We felt how gentle after all was fate, 
 And in our secret hearts, did Heaven thank, 
 That we were numbered not with those that sank 
 In the great vessel s pathway up the deep, 
 Or that the sea when with the tempest rank 
 Did not o erwhelm us with one mighty sweep, 
 And make our graves down Avhere her Naiad s vigils keep, 
 
 LVI. 
 
 For many days there rung upon my ear 
 A sound, as when the angeredflsea doth rave ; 
 The sobbing of the billows I could hear 
 As was the ocean s wont the ship to lave ; 
 But she was strong, as beautiful, and brave, 
 Her oaken beams did meet the seas, for she 
 Was built for strife and conflict with the wave, 
 Her only home is where the restless sea 
 Doth with the winds and storms unite in revelry. 
 
192 WANDEBINGS AND DREAMINGS. 
 
 LTII. 
 
 I gave one look back on the structure grand, 
 That had upheld us o er the billowy .waste ; 
 It seemed not like the work of mortal hand, 
 So beautiful, so huge, so full of taste, 
 From lowest keel to highest, proudest mast; 
 The eagle on the prow, with wings outspread 
 Seemed to exult o er all the storms it faced. 
 Brave palace of the wave, may st thou be sped 
 Safe, when storms beat, and winds their legions lead. 
 
MATILDA HERON. 
 
 i. 
 
 Lady, farewell ! brief was thy visit here ; 
 
 But long a voice within our hearts shall tell, 
 That while we gazed on thee, within a sphere 
 
 Of purer radiance, we seemed to dwell. 
 
 ii. 
 Thou wilt go hence, perhaps, beyond the main, 
 
 Perhaps thou lt visit Albion s fame-wreathed isle, 
 Where glory s trumpet strikes its loudest strain ; 
 
 Where honor loves her trophies rare to pile. 
 
 in. 
 And when thou rt there, midst scenes so beautiful 
 
 To mortal eye, midst memories so sublime, 
 Where bards immortal tuned their harp to swell 
 
 Such melodies as shall survive through Time, 
 
 IV. 
 
 There where the ocean breaks upon that shore, 
 As twere to echo back their deathless lays, 
 
 Midst the sweet halo that is fojded o er 
 The clustering deeds of those first glorious days, 
 
 14 
 
194 MATILDA IIKRON. 
 
 V. 
 
 Wilt thou in fancy turn thee back again, 
 
 Of thy far wandering on our shores to dream, 
 
 Of a little city midst a flower-clad plain, 
 
 Through which o er golden sands there flows a stream ? 
 
 VI. 
 
 While farther on, some cold, blue mountains rise, 
 Their brows enwreathed with everlasting snow, 
 
 Supporting with their azure wall, the skies, 
 While untold treasures fill their vaults below. 
 
 VII. 
 
 Thou may st not then recall the day thou strayed 
 An almost friendless girl to this Far West ; 
 
 When thy wrung soul in weariness assayed 
 
 To brave the waves that broke upon thy breast. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 But should Indifference coldly on thee stare ; 
 
 Should Envy freeze thee with her icy frown ; 
 Should Malice or Oprobrium meet thee there, 
 
 And sweet Applause take back her magic crown, 
 
 IX. 
 
 Then come again, and we will welcome thee 
 
 In strains more sweet than those we woke before, 
 For we, to Genius, ever bend the knee, 
 
 And Mind, in its true majesty adore. 
 
 x. 
 As did Minerva, spring complete from Jove, 
 
 So thou did st blaze before our startled eyes, 
 The perfect child of Genius thou dost move, 
 
 Still bathed in radiance from thy native skies- 
 
MATILDA HKROX. 195 
 
 XI. 
 
 At times, as fearful as the lurid glare 
 
 Of scorching lightnings on the storm-vexed night, 
 Or, when the storm has passed, as soft and fair 
 
 As e er was harvest moon or sweet twilight. 
 
 XII. 
 
 Grand in the uinjesty of thy high form, 
 Or the thrilling melodies of thy deep voice 
 
 When it in anger wakes a moving storm, 
 Or when in sport it playful bids rejoice. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 Grand, in the luster of thy soul-lit eye, 
 
 Whose depths and splendor tongue can never tell ; 
 
 Lightnings and sun-beam in them mingled play, 
 And there expression loves to come and dwell. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 Grand in the gesture of thy lilly hand, 
 
 Thy speaking face that doth each thought portray, 
 Where every passion seems to wave its wand, 
 
 And for its moment holds despotic sway. 
 
 xv. 
 And still, through all, there is a depth of sou 1 , 
 
 A gentle heart full oft there is revealed, 
 An angel glory neath the earthly fold, 
 
 Too dazzling and too bright to be concealed. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 Sometimes while gazing on thee, I have dreamed 
 Thou wert not what thou seenrst to mortal eyes, 
 
 But one come back to us from the redeemed, 
 With step and robes, like those in Paradise. 
 
196 MATILDA HERON. 
 
 XVII. 
 
 Thou eeem st like one to whom in sunny youth, 
 All our hear 1*? wealth in a vast love was given ; 
 
 Who for a season plighted truth for truth, 
 Then went away to join the bands of Heaven. 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 Say, art thou her, say, did st thou leave that band ? 
 
 All heaven s melodies, pomp, glory, love ? 
 But hush ! I m dreaming ; they could never spare 
 
 My angel from those azure courts above. 
 
 XIX. 
 
 Lady, farewell ! though brief thy visit here, 
 Yet in our hearts thy memory has a shrine, 
 
 And come again, we ll give thee greeting dear, 
 
 And with a welcome wreath thy brows entwine, 
 MARYSVILLE, April, 1854. 
 
JULIA DEAN HAYNE. 
 
 Can it be an angel gloaming, 
 Gleaming yonder in the distance, 
 Gleaming on our startled visions, 
 Like a spirit fresh from heaven 
 Fresh and rosy come from Heaven 
 Come to gladden us sad toilers, 
 Toiling here alone and dreary, 
 Pining for a far-off country 
 Where now our seats are vacant 
 Where we have so long been absent 
 That the mists of Time are closing 
 Round, and shutting aut our memories 
 Where our names less oft are spoken, 
 Yet toward which we tarn with longing? 
 
 Twas evening ! and o erwearied 
 By the stern world s harsh encounter, 
 When my hc^r. seemed scarcely beating v 
 With my o envve.ught uody drooping, 
 And my o ei^yrov-ght brain consuming,. 
 Then I sought in Thespis Temple 
 For relief and for "nepenthe." 
 
 Arid indeed u, very angel 
 Blazed before my startled vision, 
 With the crown she wore in Heaven,. 
 With the robes she wore in Heaven, 
 
198 JULIA DEAK HAYICK. 
 
 With the stately step of Heaven, 
 And the signet ring of Eden 
 All but the harp and pinions. 
 
 Form, and brow, and tapered finger, 
 Velvet cheek and heaving bosom, 
 And with white arms bent in pleading, 
 And with voice like waters flowing, 
 And with face with soul o erflowing, 
 And with eyes with smiles all glowing, 
 Thus she blazed before my vision. 
 
 When she smiled, all smiled for gladness ; 
 When she wept, they wept for sadness. 
 
 When she ceased, I blessed her coming 
 Thus among us wanderers here ; 
 And when I sought my pillow, 
 Softly stole a vision o er me 
 Stole the vision of the angel 
 That before had beamed upon me, 
 Save that now she wore her pinions, 
 And her harp was in her hand, 
 And she murmured, "I am going 
 Back to my home in Heaven 
 13aok to my native Aideen, 
 .From whence I came sad hearts to cheer. 
 
 Weary not, uor be disheartened, 
 When this toilsome life id over, 
 There is xuany a munsiou wailing 
 Waiting for your i eet to tuter ; 
 Many a sliiuwg, gilded mansion, 
 Man? a stalely waiting mansion, 
 
JULIA DEAN 1IAYNK. 
 
 Waiting for your soul to enter/ 
 
 Then I wakened from the vision 
 
 None could hear me none were near me 
 
 Naught could see me save the pale moon, 
 
 Watching pityingly on high, 
 
 Streaming through my lonely lattice, 
 
 From the azure dappled sky, 
 
 And her beams did bathe my temples, 
 
 And upon my pillow lie. 
 
 Much I wondered how this stranger 
 Could thus mingle with my visions 
 
 Could thus whisper in my visions 
 
 Of a resting place in Heaven. 
 
 Thus I thought, and thought, and wondered, 
 
 Till again I sank and slumbered, 
 
 And this time, so sound I slumbered, 
 
 That no dream did round me play, 
 
 Til at length the morn was kindled, 
 
 Driving every dream away, 
 
 And leaving stern reality 
 
 Once more to have its sway ; 
 
 Still, even through the weary day, 
 
 Comes that vision sweet, like sunbeams 
 
 Streaming o er my darkened way, 
 
 And I feel an unseen finger 
 
 Pointing upward and away, 
 
 And a gentle voice is whisp ring, 
 
 " There s rest at close of day." 
 
 Blessed be the radiant angel 
 
 That could bring such dreams to me. 
 
F.URATA. 
 
 Page 10. "Out of my memory," should be "Oe r my memory." 
 Page 51, verse 19, first line, "bear" should be "wear." 
 " " "rudely" should be "nudely." 
 " " "uncovered" should be "unconcerned." 
 Page 54. "Sufferer" should be "suffering." 
 Page 80, first line, -move" should be "more waking." 
 
 " " "It all would bring," should be "Of all twould bring." 
 Page 109. "Desire" should be "disease." 
 Page 119, fifteenth line. "Beauty" should be "being." 
 Page 120, eighteenth line. "Proudly" should be "fondly." 
 

 
 
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