Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, IA [i.e. Ind.]) 1839-1854, 1844-06-07
For tho Palladium

| Tho Newsmongsr Blacksmith.
BY Ptaton Codtepper Esq, -Natire Of the Hoo'aer 81
| etc.
| 81 saw a smith stand n his hammer thus,
| With open mouth, swallowing a tailors news
Twas the margin of that lovely stream
| Where rustic poets wander forth % dream.
Whose name, well known among its wales serene.
Awakes the memory of ''JoHNNY GREENE"
Arose the snaiMy of the country round,
A IND weared Echo with the sedges sound.
II looked upon that famous Roman icay.
Which guides the chariot of the closing day,
To those fair regions of the distant West.
Where nilk-sick rsgns, and Agus makes her nest.
Deli gh,ful road! where the united gaze
Drinks boundess rapture mid thy pleasant ways.
Mid groves of shady beech it far extends,
w here the hfoad firm with spce-brush blends
The vehicles Of emigrating swans,
| In countless numbers gid the mucky plains;
Some moving slow a triumphal band,
Some, deep in mud, '.i1 solemn silence" stand;
Capacious swamps extend on either hand
by a long range of buckeye bridges spann'd
The traveller halls each day with delight,
Bright sheets of mud and water bound his sight.
| AMI frogs their anthems raise the live long night.
10 this famed spot conveyed full many path
Itro' which the ploushmen ga,herd wiz their grail, "
The dngy folding doors expanded vide,
Proppd by fence stake, graced the highway side.
Where the black stamp by red hot horse shoe made,
Displayed the 'scucheon of the black smiths trade
he bellows cea seless roar, tho anvil rings.
l he steel goxs fierce, and loudly Vulcan sings.
Hard by, ring OF blazing faggots stands
There the huge wagon-tire kindes and expands;
And. farther off, sooty cloud ascends
rom the black coal-pit's cone, and wide extends,
Oer all the country, like the ebon crown
Which rests upon the spires of yonder
Ihroneh in this awful realm Of doubtful ligh,
The blacksmith hsd his court from till night:
The Cyclops' toll and dwelling r his lot
The one eyed Cyclops' want of sight NOT
Tor, with unwearied eye, and ear intent.
Ills mind on ,lers was resoutey bent:
No secondary passion sways his soul
This bounds his ev'ry thong and rules the whole.
And first, the papers cheer'd his lonely days.
With records Of this huge worlds Idle ways;
The latest row in Congress, the last duel
Between two aesmen, fed his mind with fuel;
The Queen of Engands mighty speeches laid
The firm foundation of success in trade:
While news from India, China, Bot'ny Bay.
Showed him of knowledge and of peace the way;
And lucky the W ight who pass'd the road.
Without Of news disgofging his full load!
The swain returning from his ''ayde love,''
W as forced stand, and is allegiance prove;
l he peder and the peufogger both;
l he dentist. writing master, Guack phrenoogist.
Found thar twas III i'll va in apologist;
The mill boy and the vensrated priest,
Were dOom'd. alike, to minister TO his feast:
Thus, over all his magic skill prevailed,
Assurance conquered still, where cunning failed;
The old maids led him his wondIous art,
So skili'd ia launching scandals fiery dart;
W lille sober quiet people curs'd the day.
THAI threw them in the greedy blacksmith's way!
To these loved see which mem'ry paints 50 true,
Ny Muse must bid the final sad adieu:
The pleasant hours o! youth have fitted oy-
Age checks my bounding slep and dimns my eye,
Old Time has shed his frosts upon my brow,
And naught but Memory is left
The pleasant scene which woke my votive lay,
Is sunk in desOla lion and decay;
the busy anvil long has ceased its chime,
The shop has sunk beneath the hand of time.
And unmoestsd by the blacksmith's call,
The traveller gazes IT'S ruin'd wall.