Type of long-suffering power! Thou'dst still my tongue, and send my spirit far, For thou hast waged with Time unceasing war, I see thee springing, in the vernal time, Oh, thou wert happy then! On Summer's heat thy tinkling leaflets fed, Thy dry and tatter'd leaves fell dead; Thou drop'dst them one by one,- On the cold, unfeeling stone. Next Winter seized thee in his iron grasp, And shook thy bruised and straining form; Or lock'd thee in his icicles' cold clasp, And piled upon thy head the shorn cloud's snowy fleece Wert thou not joyful, in this bitter storm, That the green honors, which erst deck'd thy head, Sage Autumn's slow decay, had mildly shed? Else, with their weight, they'd given thy ills increase, And dragg'd thee helpless from thy uptorn bed. Year after year, in kind or adverse fate, Thy branches stretch'd, and thy young twigs put forth, Summer spread forth thy towering form, On went'st thou sturdily, Shaking thy green flags in triumph and jubilee! From thy secure and sheltering branch The wild bird pours her glad and fearless lay, That, with the sunbeams, falls upon the vale, 'Neath those broad boughs the youth has told love's tale Man may decay; Race after race may pass away; The great may perish, and their very fame Rot noteless with their once inspired clay: Still, as at their birth, Thou stretchest thy long arms above the earth,- Type of majestic, self-sustaining Power! Elate in sunshine, firm when tempests lower, May thy calm strength my wavering spirit fill! Thou proud and steadfast tree, To bear unmurmuring what stern Time may send; Though wrath and storm shake me, Type of unbending Will! Strong in the tempest's hour, Bright when the storm is still; Rising from every contest with an unbroken heart, Strengthen'd by every struggle, emblem of might thou art! TO ENGLAND. I. Lear and Cordelia! 'twas an ancient tale Before thy Shakspeare gave it deathless fame: i When the rude Cossack with an outstretch'd hand II. 1852. Stand, thou great bulwark of man's liberty! Hold your proud peril! Freemen undefiled, Through force or fraud, look westward to your child! III. At length the tempest from the North has burst, Harmonious peace, so long and fondly nursed By watchful nations. Tyranny accursed 1853. Has broken bounds,-the wolf makes towards the fold. Into degrading slavery! The worst Dealt on a shield that oft has felt the weight That slaves can bring you to their own base state. IV. 1854. Far from the Baltic to the Euxine's strand, 63* 1854. SARA JANE LIPPING TT. THIS gifted writer, who has won such an enviable reputation around the hearthstones of this country, under the name of "Grace Greenwood," was born in Pompey, Onondaga County, New York. Her maiden name was Sara Jane Clarke, which was changed by her marriage with Mr. Leander K. Lippincott, of Philadelphia, in October, 1853; but the appellation by which she will be best known in American literature will be that under which she made her first appearance as an author,-" Grace Greenwood." While she was a school-girl, her parents removed to Rochester, where she enjoyed the excellent educational advantages of that place. In 1843, she removed with her parents to New Brighton, Pennsylvania, where she resided until her marriage. Soon after her removal thither, she appeared as an authoress, under the signature of "Grace Greenwood," in the columns of the "New York Mirror,” then under the editorial care of George P. Morris and N. P. Willis. Among her poetical pieces which attracted most admiration were Ariadne, The Horseback Ride, and Pygmalion. These were succeeded by various prose compositions, some of which appeared in "The National Era," published in Washington. In connection with her other literary labors, she was the editor of " The Lady's Book" for a year. Her first volume, entitled Greenwood Leaves, was published in 1850. In 1851, she published a volume of Poems, and an admirable juvenile story-book, called History of my Pets. A second series of Greenwood Leaves was issued the following year; and also another juvenile work, called Recollections of my Childhood. In the spring of 1852, she visited Europe, and spent fifteen months in England and on the Continent. Soon after her return, she published a record of her travels, entitled Haps and Mishaps of a Tour in Europe. In October, 1853, she entered upon the editorship of "The Little Pilgrim," a monthly magazine for children, published in Philadelphia by Mr. Leander K. Lippincott, to whom about this time she was married. In the fall of 1855, she published Merrie England, the first of a series of books of foreign travel for children. In the spring of 1856, a volume, entitled A Forest Tragedy, and other Tales, appeared; and in the fall of 1857, Stories and Legends of History and Travel, being the second of the series mentioned above. It will thus be seen that Mrs. Lippincott's life is any thing but an idle one; and we rejoice that she is thus keeping her talent bright by use, charming all her readers, both old and young, by her fine thoughts, expressed in a style of great ease, simplicity, and beauty. THE HORSEBACK RIDE. When troubled in spirit, when weary of life, When I faint 'neath its burdens, and shrink from its strife, And its fairest scene seems but a desolate waste, See some account of this in a note on page 427. Then come ye not near me, my sad heart to cheer, But bring me, oh, bring me my gallant young steed, Now we're off-like the winds to the plains whence they came; And the rapture of motion is thrilling my frame! On, on speeds my courser, scarce printing the sod, See his glancing hoofs tossing the white pebbles back! What a wild thought of triumph, that this girlish hand Till the long, flinty pathway is flashing with fire! Oh, not all the pleasures that poets may praise, Nor the chivalrous joust, nor the daring race, Nor the swift regatta, nor merry chase, Nor the sail, high heaving waters o'er, Nor the rural dance on the moonlight shore, Of a fearless leap on a fiery steed! THE ARMY OF REFORM. Yes, ye are few, -and they were few Once raised upon old Plymouth rock "The anthem of the free." |