Burlington hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington, Iowa) 1845-185?, 1850-04-18
For the Burlington Hawk. Eye.
PRIMO.
BY HARRY MORTON.

SPRING.
BY HARRY MORTON.
The reign Of WINTER, hoary Monarch! now
Is past and gone; the chilling blast, that oft
Searched out the traveller on the bleak hill side,
Or prairie lone, where house nor tree gave hope
OF welcome shelter from its ftful power,
No longer whistles o'er the wakening earth,
And Nature, startled from her death-like sleep,
Prepares to deck her children in the gay @
Yet beauteous robes OF Spring.
From dark ra,ines,
Where scarce the sun at Summers noon can dart
His quickening rays, the liberated streams
Roll their dark currents DER their pebbled beds:
While each and all, rejoicing to be free
From icy fetters, utter forth voice
All gladsome to the woods and rocks around,
And haste to mingle with the mighty tide
That heaves 'twixt peerless Mississipprs banks,
And rushes onward, with an arrowy speed,
To greet old Ocean in his caverned halls.
The trees are budding, and their gaunt bare limbs,
Which sretchtowards heaven,as tito dare the storm
And mock the forked lightnings, which SO off
Have cleaned around their unscathed arms, once
more
Are weaving for themselves their yernal garb
From out the exhaustless treasury Of Earth.
Along the plashy sides of quiet brooks
The grass grows greener with each passing day;
While from the southern slope of river cliffs,
Some early flowers, the frstlings ofthc year,
Are sweetly blooming on their sunny soil,
The purest gems in Springs say coronal.
From every twig the soft winds kiss within
The husky dell, or on the swelling sides
OF gentle hills, where men but seldom stray,
Melodious songsters trill their loving lays,
And wartle welcomes to the rernal breeze,
The cheerful Sun that warns the teemirg earth,
And Nature verging to her brighter days.
From sprig TO sprig, from field TO field, they fly
With joyous carol all The live-long day,
Choosing their mates with coy, instructive art,
And fixing on the spot, with incest skill,
Where they may safely build, and haply rear
Another race to gladden. other years.
The honest ploughman wakes at early dawn
And well improves the bright. labcrious hours,
Assiduous turns the soil that yields him bread;
Scstters the seed, and trusts with earnest faith,
For richest recompense at harvest time -
Nor trusts in vain; for Natures bounteous hand
Will well reward the man whose sweat and toll
Have proved him worthy OF her kindest smiles.
Health, Peace, and Plenty, bless the Farmers home,
And Independencc-such as others know,
II known at all, as an exotic plant
With the bright nymph that Poets name Content.
Around his happy hearth-stone cluster all
The charms of sober life; and he who feigns
To scorn his humble lot, and wanders forth
Among the crowded haunts ofkndred minds,
To seek for wealth, or fame. or power, at las.
Will turn from the stern chase his wearied feet,
And wish when all too late, that he had sought
His happiness, where only il is found,
In those secluded walks where Pride meier comes,
And VANITY has ne'er been known to tread;
Where man may act as man, and be god
Compared with those who trace the thorny path
Which men in Cities are compelled to walk
Or yield at once the ends they would attain.
Through what polluted portals do they gaze
Upon the outer world, and all the works
| OF renovating Nature, who ne'er stray
| Beyond the bounds Of stone or clay-built walls,
| Behind which hsggard Care forever broods,
| And finds no peace, no hope, no joy, but such
AS still must leave them much, how much, to wish?
| How the mind dwindles from its noble scope
/ When pent within the hot-house of the soul
Where honorable thoughts and high designs
| Would seem as strange as devils would in Heaven
| There, thousands follow in the beaten road
| Where other thousands oft have walked before,
| And day -by-day repeat their parrot talk,
| Until their prattie brings them to the grave,
Scarce wiser than the horse that draws their
Riches they have: yet riches still they crave
With an insatiate longing, and thei brows
| Are wrinklec by the anxious thoughts and cares
/ Which Speculation breeds: for yellow gold
Or its base counterfeit, they'd coin their blood,
! The tears of widows and the orphans cries,
| And deem it wisely done for cent per cent
! Such is the product of city life
/ The primrose path so enviable deemed
| BY those who know it not, and dream
| That Pleasure, purest Joy, and Happiness,
| Must surely dwell within its marble walls!
But none have ever grown to mans estate
| OF mind, of virtue, purity, or good,
| But who have mingled with the universe;
! HAZE stood on mountain submits, midst the war:
OF elemental strife; have sailed the seas,
And wandered through the may wilderness
Far from the busy haunts of little men,
And felt the power Of awful solitude;
Or daily mingled with the gentler scenes
Which teach the noblest lesson of them all
Mans weakness and dependence. and content.
Cowards and bravos are the ciy's spawn;
The yeoman's courage is proverb grown.
He feels that he's man, aud danger dares
In every form. not reckless, nor with dread
| For there's pleasure towards cannot know
To him, whose life has ever been the sroit
OF peril, when he feels he must depend
On his own strength fer comfort and support,
For peace and plenty; and his great soul rears
A wall about him Fear cannot o'ereap.
Such men are the rough -hewers of the world,
The pioneers who thread their perilous way
Where the pale citizen dares never go
/ Until the wanderer shall bid him come;
Then steps he in, and, hy the aid Of Law,
Robs him of all he has so dearly earned!
Great Nature is the tutor of mankind
aid, ribbed cahined, land confined,
They live and die the basest counerfei.s. ..
| Let him who would his noble station grace
With every attribute of lofty worth,
Fly TO the fields and learn his lesson there.
And spurn the aurements false of city life.
But now another sight attracts my gaze
| A scene debaslng as 'tis full of woe.
Along each path out-streiching to the west,
Continuous trains of Emigrants go forth