Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1844-03-15
From the Ladies' National Magazine.
THE POETS METAMORPHOSIS.
BY Mrs. Frances OsgOOd.
/.

SHE was Just your ideal, dear reader, of
all that is noble and lovely in a woman with
wealth, beauty and goodness for her dover,
she might have chosen a husband from the
very elite of the land-yet she folded up
that blossom Of purity and truth-her heart
from the gay and bold insects, bees, wasps
and butterflies, that sought its treasures, and
turned AWAY Gin maiden meditation" STILL
But she shut up within it one image-the
image of a singing bird, that had often how
cred round but never yet dared TO alight.-
This bird was a poet, deaf, ugly, lame and
poor, although Grace Carroll blindly persist
ed in thinking and declaring him rich, hand
some, graceful, in spite of his red hair and
sallow complexion, in spite of his hating
walk, in spite Of his shabby coat-yes, in
defiance of friend and foe, in the very face
of fact, handsome, rich and graceful he was,
and should remain
"But, Grace, his face is not handsome
surely" said her friend Madeline.
at is the divine beauty of his sOuI,' l see."
"He is not graceful, at any rate"
Eyes, Madeline, his looks, his tones, his
actions, his words, are all graceful and taste
full to me-"
"Not rich, then ?-you cannot make him
rich p
snow, Madeline, for shamel What call
you wealth"
"IS he rich, Grace"
eyes, rich and noble, too; why he has
genius, a king would drain his realm to
bay"
"What do you meanP
"Genius and honor-hope, truth, love A
heaven in his heart, an empire in bis mind.
What is your gold but dross to theseP
"But then Of such low BIRTH"
"Low?-with the noblest! p
"Ha, ha, ha! Give him a patent of no
bility and be lone with lido"
"He has it now-I've read it."
"What where"
"In his eyes, Madeline, and on his noble
brow-'twas writ in heaven. You smile
but | tell you that a single word of praise
or blame from that high hearted being would
affect me more than the applause or censure
of a whole world beside"
"Grace, are you possessed"
eyes, SeLf-possessed, Madeline, as yet,
thank heaven So pray don't imagine me
in loue with Horace Herbert"
"Well, you can't deny that he's deaf as a
post sometimes"
"I'm glad he is. Deaf to all the idle,
heartless, noisy b~uzzing Of this frivolous
and wearisome world, whose clatter might
otherwise drown the music to which his
soul still listens"
"And what is tina?
"'The voice of God the voice Of divine
love the melody of heaven, which he ech'
oes in his beautiful songs"
They were standing, Madeline and Grace,
near a curtained window apart from the 9th.
err guests at Mrs. Harvey's-and neither
dreamed that they were overheard but be-
hind that curtain was a young man, who
had apparently just entered from the garden
through the open window. Too agitated-
TOO deeply absorbed in the conversation tC
think Of avoiding the part of a listener, hC
had stood trembling till it was over, ant
then, instead Of re-entering the room, HI
rushed once more into the open air to give
f free vent to the passionate emotions of hi
a soul.
"Thank God thank God" he cried, il
a voice half choaked by feeling, and tear
; uncomfortable rushed to his eyes as HI
$ spoke. "Thank God, she knows me-sh'
e sees me as | ammo, not as | am, but as
: might, as ! ought to be. She looks into m,
soul, through the rose-colored glass of he
own divine Imagination, 1t is true; but an
more worthy Of her praise and love than O
e the ill-concealed aversion of those arounI
her. Blessings on the beautiful-the nobl
girl? What a lofty and luminous soul light
ed up her face as she spoke-and | have dc
ceived even her-but, oh what a trump
r to know that it is my genius, my mind, m
heart she loves. 'Lovesl ah, no, she denie
that she loved me. Perhaps-but there
' yet hopel She will, she must, she shall,
3 and with a proud and digni6ed mien, which
in spite of his limp. impressed almost a
u who beheld him with a sense of his superior
ity, he re-entered the brilliant drawing-rooI