commemorative occasions, as on the death of Cooper, Halleck, and Irving.

He gained wealth as others may gain it by the thrift inculcated in "Poor Richard's Almanac." On his eightieth birthday, thousands of congratulatory letters came to him from all over the land, and a loving-cup was presented him which may now be seen in the Metropolitan Museum.

For this Nestor of counsel this patriotic journalist and poetserene and philosophic worked on, "Without haste, without rest," giving quietly and strongly of his best to the world; and yet this singer of "an unfaltering trust" seemed constantly in his life to exemplify those lines from his 'Waiting by the Gate":

"And in the sunshine streaming on quiet wood and lea, I stand and calmly wait till the hinges turn for me."

Bryant expressed grateful appreciation for the artistic impulse which the Italians had given to New York, in presenting so many statues of their renowned men; and he had profound sympathy for the life and work of the Revolutionist and statesman, Mazzini; - he who has been called "the brain," in connection with Garibaldi, "the sword," Cavour, "the genius," and Victor Emmanuel, "the banner " - of "Italy free"!

Mazzini's bust was to be unveiled in Central Park and Bryant was invited to give the oration. It was

a warm June day, and he stood with bared head. The address was scholarly and looking up into Mazzini's face, he closed with these words:

"Image of the illustrious champion of civil and religious liberty, cast in enduring bronze to typify the imperishable renown of the original! Remain for ages yet to come where

we place thee, in this resort of millions; remain till the day shall dawn when the rights and duties of human brotherhood shall be acknowledged by all the races of mankind!"

These were the last public words he was to speak; for at the close of the ceremonies, he was stricken by the heat of the sun and died, just a few days later, on the twelfth of June, 1878. The simple funeral took place at Roslyn, and village children dropped flowers into the grave.

In 1883, "The Century Company," influenced by Hon. John Bigelow, appointed a committee to perpetuate the name of "The Father of American Poetry," and two honours have been accorded him. The first of these was when " Reservoir Square" became "Bryant Park "; then after the completion of the New York Public Library, there was placed on the esplanade, at the back of the palatial building, a statue of Bryant made by the sculptor, Herbert Adams.

Like that of Mazzini, it is cast in enduring bronze. The hand holds a manuscript, suggestive of literary work. The poet gazes over his Park towards Irv

ing, who, at the other end, is taking a view of his modern Knickerbocker city. The statue was unveiled by Miss Frances Bryant Godwin, a greatgranddaughter of the poet. Mr. Bigelow was not able to be present; and it was most fitting that in his stead our optimistic philosopher and Nature-interpreter, Rev. Dr. Henry Van Dyke, should deliver the address.

The base bears the following selection from one of Bryant's later poems and how truly it characterises

his stateliness of expression:

"Yet let no empty gust

Of passionate feeling find utterance in thy lay,

A blast that whirls the dust

Along the howling street and dies away:

Best feelings of calm and mighty sweep

Like currents journeying through the windless deep."

TO THE FRINGED GENTIAN

"Thou blossom, bright with autumn dew,
And coloured with the heaven's own blue,
That openest when the quiet light
Succeeds the keen and frosty night;

Thou comest not when violets lean
O'er wandering brooks and springs unseen,
Or columbines, in purple dressed,
Nod o'er the ground-bird's hidden nest.

Thou waitest late, and com'st alone,
When woods are bare and birds are flown,

And frosts and shortening days portend
The aged year is near his end.

Then doth thy sweet and quiet eye
Look through its fringes to the sky,
as if that sky let fall

Blue-blue

A flower from its cerulean wall.

I would that thus, when I shall see
The hour of death draw near to me,
Hope, blossoming within my heart,
May look to heaven as I depart."

TO A WATERFOWL

"Whither midst falling dew,

-Bryant.

While glow the heavens with the last steps of day,
Far, through their rosy depths, dost thou pursue
Thy solitary way?

There is a Power whose care

Teaches thy way along that pathless coast,-
The desert and illimitable air,—

Lone wandering, but not lost.

Thou'rt gone! the abyss of heaven

Hath swallowed up thy form; yet, on my heart
Deeply hath sunk the lesson thou hast given,
And shall not soon depart:

He, who, from zone to zone,

Guides through the boundless sky thy certain flight,

In the lone way that I must tread alone,

Will lead my steps aright."

- Bryant.

XV

SPASMODIC POEMS AND SONGS

SOME of our earlier writers live to-day in one or two poems or songs, and in the following chapter we have strung together just a few of these inspiring

verses.

The first we seek in the "Knickerbocker Group," that fashionable coterie of young men, who, with Irving as their centre, were all aspirants for literary fame. Among them were Paulding, Willis, Dana, Drake and Halleck, and it is from Drake and Halleck that we gather our memorials. Their first meeting was on this wise: They were standing on the Battery, New York, admiring a admiring a rainbow that spanned the heavens, and a mutual friend introduced them.

Halleck, who was a great admirer of Campbell remarked: "It would be heaven to ride on that rainbow and read Campbell." Drake liked the words, clasped his hand, and a "David and Jonathan " friendship was formed only to be severed by Drake's early death.

They called themselves "Croakers," and their "croaks" gave a pleasant picture of New York society in the first part of the nineteenth century —