PN 6110 N2H846 THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES safli'SsV'fc^ri.: ^ * ::mM ^r ,-i> - ^a ^L* A\ --' IN THE WOODS WITH BRYANT, LONGFELLOW, AND HALLECK ILLUSTRATE!) FROM DRAWINGS BY JOHN A. HOWS 'The nunneries of silent nooks, The murmur' <1 longing of the wood." LOWF.I.L. NEW YORK: .TAMES GK G-REGORY, PUBLISHER. MDCCCLXIII. Entered accordins to Act of Congress, in the year 1S: -A. IF'raginen.t, BY - FITZ-GREENE HALLECK. Mi-ssris. ANNIN. BOBBKTT-HOOI'En. KILMKK. ANDKK\V BU(SS. KINNKKSLEY. BOGK1IT. cox. X. OKI: A Co. THE melancholy days arc come, the saddest of the year, Of wailing winds, and naked woods, and meadows brown and sere. Heaped in the hollows of the grove, the autumn leaves lie dead : They rustic to the eddying gust, and to the rabbit's tread. The robin and the wren are flown, And from the shrubs the jay, And from the wood-top calls the crow Through all the gloomy day. Where are the flowers, the fair young flowers, That lately sprang and stood, In brighter light, and softer airs, A beauteous sisterhood ? they all arc in their graves, the gentle race of flowers Are lying in their lowly beds, with the fair and good of ours. The rain is falling where they lie, but the cold November rain Calls not from out the gloomy earth the lovely ones again. wind-flower and the violet. They perished long ago, And the brier-rose and the orchis " Died amid the summer glow; on the hill the golden rod, and the aster in the wood, And the yellow sunflower by the brook in autumn beauty stood, Till fell the frost from the clear cold heaven, as falls j the plague on men, And the brightness of their smile was <{? gone, from upland, glade, and glen. And now when conies the calm mild day, As still such days will come, To call the squirrel and the bee From out their winter home ; When the sound of dropping nuts is heard. Though all the trees are still, And twinkle in the smoky light The waters of the rill, South- wind searches for the flowers whose fra- grance late he bore, \nd sighs to find them in the wood and by the stream no more. then I think of one who in her youthful beauty died, The fair, meek blossom that grew up and faded by my side ; In the cold., moist earth \ve laid her, When the forests east the leaf, And we wept that one so lovely Should have a life so brief: Yet not unmeet it was that one Like that young friend of onrs, So gentle and so beautiful, Should perish with the flowers. PLEASANT it was, when woods were green, And winds were soft and low, To lie amid sonic sylvan scene, Where, the long drooping boughs between, Shadows dark, and sunlight sheen, Alternate come and go ; Or, where the denser grove receives Xo sunlight from above, Rut the dark foliage interweaves In one unbroken roof of leaves Underneath whose sloping eaves The shadows hardly move. Beneath some patriarchal tree I lav upon the ground : His hoary anus uplifted he. And all the broad leaves over nu Clapped their little hands in glee, With one continuous sound ; slumberous sound :i sound that brings The let- lings of a dream As of innumerable wings, As, when a bell no longer swings, Faint the hollow murmur rings O'er meadow, lake, and stream. And dreams of that which cannot die. Bright visions came to me, As lapped in thought I used to lie. And gaze into the summer skv. Where the sailing clouds went by, Like ships upon the sea : that the soul of voutli en Ere Fancy has been quelled ; Old legends of the monkish iag'e, Traditions of .the saint and sag'e. Tales that have the rime of ag'e, And chronicles of Eld. And, loving still these quaint old themes. Kven in the city's throng I led the freshness of the streams. That, crossed l>y shades and sunny gleam.- Water the green land of dreams. The holy land of sonir. Jit Pentecost, which brings The Spring, clothed like a bride, When nestling buds unfold their \vings And bishop's-caps have golden rings, Musing upon many things, I sought the woodlands wide. The green trees whispered low and mild ; It was a sound of joy They were my playmates when a child, And rocked me in their ;irms so wild ! Still they looked at me and smiled, As if I were a boy ; And ever whispered, mild and low, "Come, be a ehild once more!" And waved their long arms to and fro. And beckoned solemnly and slow ; O, I could not choose but go -Into the woodlands hoar : the blithe and breathing air. Into the solemn wood, Solemn and silent everywhere ! Nature with folded hands seemed there, Kneeling at her evening prayer! Like one in prayer I stood. me rose an avenue, Of tall and sombrous ])ines: Abroad their fan-like branches grew, And, where the sunshine darted through. Spread a vapor soft and blue. In long and sloping lines. falling on my weary brain, Like a fast-falling shower, The dreams of youth came back again. Low lispings of the summer rain, Dropping on the ripened grain, As once upon the flower. Visions of childhood ! Stay, O stay ! Ye were so sweet and wild ! And distant voices seemed to say, ''It cannot be! They pass away!'' Tuou eom'st in beauty, on my ga/e at last, ' On Snsquelianna's side, fair Wyoming !'' Image of many a dream, in hours long past, When life was in its bud and blossoming, And waters gushing from the fountain-spring Of pure enthusiast thought, dimmed my young As by the poet borne, on unseen wing. I breathed, in fancy. 'neath tlrv cloudless skies. The summer's air, and heard her echoed harmonic; I then but dreamed: thou art before me now, In life, a vision of the brain no more. I've stood upon the wooded mountain's brow. That beetles liiuli thv lovelv valley o'er; And now, where winds thy river's greenest shore, Within a bower of Sveamores am laid : And winds, as soft and sweet as ever bore The fnxoranee of wild flowers through sun and shade, singing in the trees, whose low boughs press my head. liath made thee lovelier than the power Even of Campbell's pen hath pictured: he Had woven, had he gazed one sunny hour Upon thy smiling vale, its scenery With more of truth, and made each rock and tree Known like old friends, and o-reeted from afar. University of California SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 405 Hilgard Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90024-1388 Return this material to the library from which it was borrowed. UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY A 001 300 337 1 (HBI