Burlington hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington, Iowa) 1845-185?, 1849-04-12
For the Burlington Hawk. Eye.
THE WHITE PILGRIM.

For the Burlington Hawk.Eye.
THE WHITE PILGRIM.
SUPPOSED TO BE WRITTEN ~ AN INDIAN.
Icame to the spot where the White Pilgrim lay
And pensively stood by his tomb;
When in low whisper heard something say,
elbow sweetly sleep here Alone"
"The tempest may howl, and the loud thunder roar
And gathering storms may arise, St
Yet calm my feelings, At rest is my soul, ps
And the tears are all wiped from my eyes.
eThe cause Of my Master propelled me from home;
bid my companions farewell:
left my dear children, who for moarn,
In . far distant region to dwell.
al WANDERED in exile, stranger below,
To publish salvation abroad:
The trump Of the Gospel endeav0red to blow,
Inviting poor sinners to God.
aAnd when among strangers, and far from my home,
No kindred or relatives nigh,
/ met with contagion and sunk in the tomb:
Ny spirit ascended on high.
eco tell my companions, and children most dear,
To weep not for Joseph, though gone:
The same hand that led through scenes dark drear,
Has kindly conducted me home"
From the Massachusetts Ploughman.
Some Passages in the Life Of Dea. Goodman.
WArein shotcn the inconvenience Of not having the
ssAfusic0l Ear"
Deacon Goodman was extensively
known, not merely in his own parish, but
though several miles Of the surrounding
country, for his amiable disposition, active
benevolence, and unquestionable piety.-
So thoroughly was the Deacon's charac-
ter established, that when the people Of
the eiehboring towns saw him passing by,
they would say--that man was rightly
named, for If there ever ros good man,
he is one.' And from this there was no
dissenting voice. Nay I; am wrong in
saying that; for their are some who new
er hear any body praised without an inter-
posing and qualifying 'but;' He may be
well enough on the WHOLE they will say,
but &c, SC; and then they will go on and
make him out anything but clever fell
low
The qualifying but must be interposed
even in the case of Deacon Goodman
He had fault: He pould sing IN meeting.
Call you that fault? p saith the reader.
Well then, kind reader, call it misfor-
tune. But why misfortune 2
will tell thee. Nature has so formed
us, that some have the musical ear and
others not. Now this musical ear has
nothing to do with real character, moral
or intellectual; but yet the persons who
have not the musical ear ought never to
sing IN meeting: lfthey do, they will be
sure to annoy others, and make themselves
ridiculous. Deacon Goodman had NOT the
musical ear Whether it were the Mes
slab, or the sCreation,' or Jim Crow and
Zip Coon, it was all the same to him, so
far as music was concerned it was just SO
much singing. Whether the artist were
Sivori, or Ole Bull, or poor OLD John Cas-
co, il was just 80 much fddiing. He had
not the musical ear and still less, if pos
sible, the musical voice but yet he vould
sing in meeting. And the gentle and re-
spectful remonstrances Of the choir leader
were met with the UNMARRIED reply, Sing
ing is praying; you might as well ask me
not to pray ; 1 shall sing IN needing
1t is now proper for the Biographer to
hint at another trait in the good Deacon's
character. He was rather set in his
way; or in other words, he was dreadful
ly obstinate in what he thought a good
cause and he was generally correct in aP-
preciating the merits Of the cause.
We all know that musical people are
apt to be sensitive and somewhat little
capricious and who has ever known a
theatrical Orchestra, or even village
choir, that had not regular blow up at
least once year2 Beyond all doubt,
Deacon Goodman's singing was very Sc
rious grievance to the choir, and no small
annoy ance 10 the congregation. Yet in
consideration Of his great merits he was
INDUCED, and his regular Sunday perform
ance, often drew forth the remark, that If
music murder was a sin, Deacon Good
man would have much to answer for
But there is point beyond which for
bearance is no longer virtue. Great
pains had been taken by the choir in get
ting up new Anthem, (selected from
Mozart) for Thanksgiving day, and the
very gem Of the piece was a solo, which
had been assigned to the sweetest voice,
and the prettiest little girl in the village.
All who attended the rehearsals were per-
fectly delighted with the solo as sung by
little Mary Il was very difficult. 1t
was marked from beginning to end, AN
dantino,' Dolce 'Affetuoso,' 'Crescen-
do Piano. 'Pianissimo,' with changing
keys, and flats and sharps springing out
from unexpected places but she had con-
qnered it all. Three or four accomplish
ed singers who had come from Boston TO
pass Thanksgiving in the country, and
who attended the last rehearsal, were in
raptures with little Mary's singing. They
had heard Tedesco, and Biscaccianti, and
Madam Bishop; and yet they say, for a
country girl, she is prodigy
In due time, Thanksgiving day arrived;
and while the second bell' was ringing,
news came to the village that very Sc
rious accident had happened to the Uni
versalist minister. His horse had thrown
him, and either his neck or leg was brok-
en- the boy who had brought the news
had forgotten which. i hope it is not
his neck, said the rich and charitable old
church member. When Deacon Goodman
heard that remark, he held up his hands
and exclaimed 4 never!'
Now the Deacon loved uood nreachino