492 ELIZABEH OAKES SMITH. ELIZABETH OAKES SMITH. [Daughter of a Mr. Prince. Married at the age of sixteen Mr. Seba Smith, a newspaper-editor and poet, popular under his pseudonym of "Jack Downing." Mrs. Smith has published writings of various kinds, including tragedies, and a novel printed in 1842, named The Western Captive]. DESPONDENCY. WHEN thou didst leave me, Hope, why didst thou not, Had rested mute and desolate of care- But now, too much remembering of the past, Feel all the pangs of life, and thought, and breath, CHARITY, IN DESPAIR OF JUSTICE. Of deeper truth grew on my wandering ken I claimed from weak-eyed man the gift of Heaven, All known to God, and ask of man sweet charity. EMILY JUDSON. [Mrs. Judson, then Miss Emily Chubbuck, was known as a magazine-writer under the pseudonym of "Fanny Forester," and began to become popular in 1841. In 1846 she made the acquaintance of the missionary Judson, then returned to America from India and Burmah, and recently left a widower. She married him, and, glowing with zeal for the spread of the gospel, went back with him to India, and seconded his missionary efforts. She is not now living, but I cannot give the date of her death]. MY BIRD. ERE last year's moon had left the sky, Its tiny wings upon my breast. From morn till evening's purple tinge, Broad earth owns not a happier nest; This seeming visitant from heaven, To me to me thy hand has given! A silent awe is in my room I tremble with delicious fear; Doubts, hopes, in eager tumult rise; Room for my bird in paradise, And give her angel plumage there! SARAH J. CLARKE. [Sister of a barrister. Miss Clarke began writing for the press in 1844, under the name of "Grace Greenwood," which soon became extremely popular; and she has since then continued to be a prolific authoress, chiefly in prose]. ILLUMINATION FOR THE TRIUMPH OF OUR LIGHT up thy homes, Columbia, For those chivalric men Who bear to scenes of warlike strife Resaca's, Palo Alto's fields, The heights of Monterey ! They pile with thousands of thy foes With maids and wives, at Vera Cruz, Light up your homes, oh fathers! For those young hero bands Whose march is still through vanquished towns Whose valour wild, impetuous, In all its fiery glow Pours onward like a lava-tide, And sweeps away the foe! For those whose dead brows Glory crowns, And for home faces wan with grief, And fond eyes dim with weeping: Who battled madly brave, Light up thy home, young mother! In yearning love impressed. In yon beleaguered city Were homes as sweet as thine ; The lad with brow of olive hue, The maiden with her midnight eyes The booming shot, the murderous shell, And filled with agony and death Those sacred household halls; Then bleeding, crushed, and blackened, lay Oh sisters, if you have no tears If the banners of the victors veil If ye lose the babe's and mother's cry If your hearts with martial pride throb high- 495 PAUL H. HAYNE. [A poet of one of the Southern States of the Union. He published in 1860 a volume named Avolio, a Legend of the Island of Cos, with Poems Lyrical, Miscellaneous, and Dramatic]. SONNET. An hour agone, and prostrate Nature lay Like some sore-smitten creature nigh to death, With feverish parched lips, with labouring breath, And languid eyeballs darkening to the day. A burning Noontide ruled with merciless sway Earth, wave, and air; the ghastly-stretching heath, The sullen trees, the fainting flowers beneath, Drooped hopeless, shrivelling in the torrid ray ;When, like a sud den, cheerful trumpet blown Far off by rescuing spirits, rose the wind Urging great hosts of clouds; the thunder's tone Breaks into wrath; the rainy cataracts fall. But, pausing soon, behold Creation shrined In a new birth,-God's Covenant clasping all! ALICE BRADLEY NEAL. MIDNIGHT. I HAD been tossing through the restless night,- Then agony of loneliness o'ercame My widowed heart. Night would fit emblem seem The heavens were dark my life henceforth the same. |