LOVE'S BLINDNESS. Now do I know that Love is blind, for I And makes me in abundance find but dearth. But when thy feet flutter the dark, and thou With orient eyes dawnest on my distress, Suddenly sings a bird on every bough, The heavens expand, the earth grows less and less, The ground is buoyant as the ether now, And all looks lovely in thy loveliness. ALFRED AUSTIN. WHAT THE GREAT WISE MAN SAID. It was a small and foolish child who met the Great Wise Man, And opening wide his Question-Bag, 'twas thus the child began. "O, Great Wise Man, I've questions here that long have puzzled me, And if you've answers that will fit, I'll buy me two or three. First, can I make a new pig's ear out of my old silk purse? Is killing time like eating dates, or is it really worse? Next, what do little fishes do, to keep their stockings dry? And, since the water is so wet, how do they ever cry? Pray what's the fish that gives us scales wherewith we weigh our words? Could people really kill a stone, if they should use two birds? Then, last of all, please tell me, sir- and this is question seven — Is't raining up or raining down, when they have rain in heaven?" The Great Wise Man thought hard and fast; his finger-ends he bit; He searched in vain his Answer-Book for answers that would fit. At last he said, "I know great things; when I was very young, In nine-and-ninety languages I learned to hold my tongue. And backwards, even when asleep, or standing on my head, Oh! faithless stones of Manhattan, that tempted my boyish feet Away from the clover-meadow, from the windwoven waves of wheat! I thought ye a golden highway; I find ye the path of shame, Where souls are sold for silver, and gold is the price of fame! But my weary feet must tread ye, as slaves on the quarry floor, And my aching brain must suffer your pitiless uproar, Till the raving tide shall sweep above, and careless feet shall tread On the fatal stones of Manhattan, over my dreamless bed! - The Open Court. WILLIS FLETCHER JOHNSON. NOTES. TODHUNTER. The edition of Mr. Todhunter's poems consulted in the preparation of this study contains many MS. corrections by the author. IBID. The Shan Van Vocht," or Poor Old Woman, is a popular type of Ireland. The Bodachglass (gray goblin) is a phantom appearing to the doomed. MACE. The poem “Only Waiting" was written by me under these circumstances: In the summer of 1854 a friend and fellow contributor to the Waterville Mail, called on me one afternoon at my father's house in Bangor, Maine. Poetry, as usual, was our theme, and she remarked that she brought me a subject. Her mother, during the morning, had called her attention to an item in a newspaper, in these words: "A very aged man in an alms-house, being asked what he was doing now, replied, 'Only waiting '." She requested me to write upon this theme and after a little further talk left me and I went to my little study, and in a short time had written the stanzas. I remember that I carried them down stairs and read them to my mother. The young lady who made the suggestion is now the wife of Prof. Marden of Colorado Springs College. Soon afterward I sent the verses to the Waterville Mail for publication and they first appeared in print in that paper, Sept. 7, 1854. It was immediately and widely copied, and for twenty years as a nameless waif found its way into numerous collections of poetry and music. Its further history has not been always a peaceful one. Its authorship was elicited by the inquiries of Dr. James Martineau, of London, England. It was claimed not only by myself but by another lady, a resident of Iowa. Dr. Martineau was sufficiently interested to make a thorough investigation of the double claim. At his request I gave all the circumstances of the original writing, with the address of Mrs. Marden, who gave me the subject, also that of Mrs. Goodwin, of Boston, now a trustee of Wellesley College, who, as the friend of my girlhood, heard the poem read before its publication. I sent a small manuscript book of verses written between the ages of twelve and twenty, in which "Only Waiting" was copied at the time of its composition. The editor of the Waterville Mail furnished the date of its first publication. The other lady was sufficiently generous in furnishing statements, but failed to bring forward dates and addresses. Soon after examining all the testimony, Dr. Martineau wrote me a kind letter of thanks for the poem and expressed his entire confidence in my claim. Several other would-be authors of the little hymn have appeared at intervals, the latest appearing within a few months in Pasadena, California. But there are none who attempt to prove any such ownership. The New York Independent of Jan. 24, 1874, published a history of the hymn written by the well-known hymnologist, Prof. Bird, of Lehigh University. The American Bookseller of March, 1886, published the same history with fuller details. All the later collections of poetry credit the poem to me, and it has place in my own volume, "Legends, Lyrics and Sonnets," published in 1883. The little hymn was written without a thought of its possible popularity but has not ceased in all these years to claim from me frequent attention. F. L. M. A ALLEN. This poem, "Rock Me to Sleep, Mother," has been set to music by several composers. dispute as to the authorship of the words attracted wide attention. Mrs. Allen wrote them in Portland, Me., early in 1859, and sent them from Rome in May, 1860, to the Philadelphia Saturday Evening Post. The validity of her claim was presumable, not only from the fact that she had placed the piece in her volume of "Poems" before the discussion arose, but also because she was the only claimant that had written poems equal or superior to the disputed one. That she was the real author was demonstrated by William D. O'Conner in a long article in the New York Times of May 27, 1867. RICHARDSON. The author of this poem, "The Nautilus and Ammonite," G. F. Richardson, F. G. S., of the British Museum, author of a Geology in Bohn's Scientific Library, thus prefaces the poem: "The extinction of an entire genus is strongly exampled in the instance of the ammonite. The two shells occur in the earliest formations, and both are found simultaneously up to the chalk, where the ammonite ceases to exist, no specimen of that genus being found in deposits which overlie that deposit, while the nautilus survives at the present day. This separation the fact that the one is taken and the other left' has appeared to the author a fit subject for poetic illustration, and has given rise to the poem." HAWTHORNE. In a letter to the editor Mr. Hawthorne says: The waif you speak of under the name of Free-Will' was not put forward as a poem, but simply as a rhymed statement of an idea. It appeared in the London Spectator some ten years ago." Julian Hawthorne was born June 22, 1846, in Salem, Mass.; studied at Harvard College, and at the Scientific School; also studied engineering in Germany. He took up literature as a profession in 1871, and is now one of the leading novelists of this country. SPENCER. In regard to Living Waters" it is like its author in that it has no history such as can be told. It was written and published while I was still in my teens, and was one of the easiest things I ever wrote. All I remember about it is that it came to me one summer's day when I was deliberately trying to be lazy mentally,— having been ordered not to think and of course I couldn't help writing it out. I believe the idea came without any provocation, and completed itself without coaxing. It was very easily and quickly done. Usually there is a sticking-place somewhere, and sometimes a good deal of sticking, but I don't remember any in that case. Nor did I ever think much of the verses, although it is true that they have been liked and praised by good authorities. C. S. S. BALLARD. I cannot now indicate the exact number of Good Cheer in which the little verses I send you first appeared. "Sunlight" was written under no particular circumstance - being simply a recollection of a childish fancy of my own. I used to like to shoot arrows sometimes gilded for the purpose-up into the light just after sunset, to see them glitter. Perhaps the first time was an accident. Н. Н. В. CARNEY. "Little Things" was written, the author says, probably in the spring or early summer of 1845, while she was attending a phonographic class held at Tremont Temple, Boston. It was written one morning during a ten minutes' session devoted to composition. The author further says: "At noon the same day, the office boy who came for the previously engaged tract,- or leaflet — brought a note from the editor of our Sabbathschool paper, now The Myrtle, but I am not sure which of several former titles it bore at that time. He wished for some little scraps to fill up vacant space, poetry preferred. In the haste of the school noon, I rummaged desk and brain. I have forgotten what else I found then, but remember hastily penciling from memory, while the boy waited, the little rhymes of the morning which would else have passed into oblivion. They appeared with only the signature of Julia," then well known in our denomination. In a few weeks one could hardly take up a paper which did not contain them. A Methodist paper added a verse about “little pennies." Very soon it was found in several different school books, among them the books used in my own school." LACOSTE. Epes Sargent in "Harper's Cyclopædia of British and American Poetry," says: "Miss Lacoste, born about the year 1842, was a resident of Savannah, Ga., at the time (1863) she wrote the charming little poem of 'Somebody's Darling.' Without her consent, it was first published, with her name attached, in the Southern Churchman. It has since been copied into American and English collections, school-books, and newspapers, with her name; so that her wish to remain anonymous seems to be now impracticable. Her residence (1880) was Baltimore, and her occupation that of a teacher. In a letter to us (1880), she writes: I am thoroughly French, and desire always to be identified with France; to be known and considered ever as a Frenchwoman. I cannot be considered an authoress at all, and resign all claim to the title.' The patriotism of Miss Lacoste is worthy of all praise; but if she did not wish to be regarded as an authoress, and a much esteemed one, she ought never to have written Somebody's Darling.' The marvel is that the vein from which came this felicitous little poem has not been more productively worked." DICKINSON. The poem, "The Children," has been often attributed to Charles Dickens. Some careless compositor may have been originally responsible for the mistaken credit, owing to the similarity of names, as Mr. Dickinson formerly wrote his without the "middle letter." When the poem was penned — which was in the early summer of 1863 — its author was a schoolmaster at Haverstraw, on the Hudson. He had to meet the almost universal dislike of scholars to writing compositions, and he chose a happy way of meeting it, by proposing to write something himself, to read on a Saturday afternoon, if they would do the same. posal made and accepted, the teacher's part on the programme must be filled, and hence we have "The Children," written after school was dismissed on Friday afternoon, and before it opened on the following morning. The verses were sent to a Boston paper for which Mr. Dickinson was then writing, and immediately won their way to popular favor. In the winter of 1863-4 the poem was published in the "School Girl's Garland," a compilation of poetry by Mrs. C. M. Kirkland, and has since been copied into several other collections of A. A. H. verse. The pro MASON. 44 'Be Like the Sun" first appeared in The Atlantic Monthly for June, 1879. BIBLIOGRAPHY. WORKS CONSULTED IN THE PREPARATION OF THIS NUMBER OF THE MAGAZINE OF POETRY." TROWBRIDGE, JOHN TOWNSEND. The Vagabonds, and Other Poems. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Co., 1887. c. 1869. 16mo, pp. 4 and 172. IBID. The Emigrant's Story, and Other Poems. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Co., n. d. c. 1874. 16m0, pp. 6 and 173. IBID. The Book of Gold, and Other Poems, with illustrations. New York: Harper and Bros., 1878. Svo, pp. 81. IBID. A Home Idyl, and Other Poems. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Co., 1881. 16m0, pp. 3 and 165. IBID. The Lost Earl, with Other Poems and Tales in Verse. Illustrated. Boston: D. Lothrop Company, n. d. c. 1888. 8vo, pp. 158. THOMAS, EDITH M. A New Year's Masque, and Other Poems. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Co., 1885. 16m0, pp. 5 and 138. IBID. Lyrics and Sonnets. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Co., 1887. 16m0, pp. 136. TODHUNTER, JOHN. Laurella, and Other Poems. London: Henry S. King and Co., 1876. Crown Svo, pp. 10 and 275. IBID. Alcestis: a Dramatic Poem. London: C. Kegan Paul and Co., 1879. Fcap 8vo, pp. 8 and 131. IBID. Forest Songs, and Other Poems. London: Kegan Paul, Trench and Co., 1881. Small crown Svo, pp. 9 and 103. IBID. The True Tragedy of Rienzi, Tribune of Rome. London: Kegan Paul, Trench and Co., 1881. Small crown 8vo, pp. 10 and 122. IBID. Helena in Troas. London: Kegan Paul, Trench and Co., 1886. Small crown 8vo, pp. 3 and 83. IBID. The Banshee, and Other Poems. London: Kegan Paul, Trench and Co., 1888. Small crown Svo, pp. 10 and 148. MACE, FRANCES L. Legends, Lyrics and Sonnets. Second edition. Boston: Cupples, Upham and Co., 1884. c. 1883. 16mo, pp. 5 and 227. IBID. Under Pine and Palm. and Co., 1888. 12mo, pp. 222. Boston: Ticknor HARBAUGH, THOMAS C. Maple Leaves. Poems. Second edition. Cincinnati: Robert Clarke and Co., 1884. 16mo, pp. 160. NEVIN, EDWIN H. Lyra Sacra Americana, by Charles Dexter Cleveland; and miscellaneous poems. GREENWELL, DORA. Poems (selected), with a Biographical Introduction by William Dorling. The Canterbury Poets, edited by William Sharp. London: Walter Scott, 1889, 18mo, pp. 22 and 248. Orestes, a Dramatic KOOPMAN, HARRY LYMAN. Sketch, and Other Poems. Buffalo: Moulton, Wenborne and Co., 1888. 16mo, pp. 192. IBID. Woman's Will. A Love-Play in Five Acts, with Other Poems. Buffalo: Moulton, Wenborne and Co., 1888. 16mo, pp. 6 and 63. BARBE, W. T. W. Song of a Century. tennial Ode. Read at Morgantown, West Virginia, October 25, 1885. Parkersburg: Printed for Private Distribution. IBID. Miscellaneous poems. A Cen BROWNELL, HENRY HOWARD. Poems. New York: D. Appleton and Co. Philadelphia: Geo. S. Appleton, 1847. 12mo, pp. 208. IBID. Ephemeron. A Poem. New York; D. Appleton and Co., 1855. 12mo, pp. 58. IBID. Lyrics of a Day: or Newspaper Poetry. By a volunteer in the U. S. service. New York: Carleton, 1864. c. 1863. 12mo, pp. 160. IBID. Wa-Lyrics and Other Poems. Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1866. c. 1865. 12m0, pp. 8 and 243. LEE-HAMILTON, EUGENE. Poems and Transcripts. Edinburgh and London: William Blackwood and Sons, 1878. Crown 8vo, pp. 9 and 171. IBID. The New Medusa, and Other Poems. London: Elliot Stock, 1882. Crown 8vo, pp. 120. IBID. Apollo and Marsyas, and Other Poems. London: Elliot Stock, 1884. Crown 8vo, pp. 6 and 138. IBID. Onnalinda, A Romance. London: Kegan Paul, Trench and Co. New York: Onnalinda Publishing Co., 1888. Imperial 8vo, pp. 8 and 209. IBID. Miscellaneous poems and songs with music. THORPE, ROSE HARTWICK. Ringing Ballads. Including, Curfew Must Not Ring To-night. Boston: D. Lothrop Co., n. d. c. 1887. Svo, pp. 115. Illustrated. |