The Potter journal. [volume] (Coudersport, Pa.) 1857-1872, 1858-03-18

his monotonous despair. Passed from his
| dying hand to the cold pirtaoso, who let
it slumber in its case for generation.
till, when his hoard was broken up, il
came forth once more and rode the stor-
+ my symphonies of royal orchestras, be-
meath the rushing bow of their lord and
leader. Into lonely prisons with improv-
ident artists; into converts from which
arose, day and night, the holy hymns
with which its tones were blended and
back again to orgies in which it learned
to howl and laugh as if legion of devils
were shut up in it; then again to the gen
tie dtlettdDte who Gained it down with
easy melodies until it answered him softly
as in the days of the old mae<troS. And
so given into oar hands, its pores all full
of music; stained, like the mecr:chaum,
through and through, with the concen-
trated hue and sweetness of all the har-
monies that have kindled and faded on its
strings.
"Now tell yOu poem mast be kept
end used, Ike a meerSchaum, CT violin.
y poemis justasporous as the meerchaum
the more porous it is, the better. !
mean to say that genuine poem is capa-
bic of absorbing an indefinite amount O.
the essence of our Own humanity,-its
tenderness, its heroism, its regrets, its as
pirationS, SO as to De gradually stained
through with divine secondary color de
rived from ourselves. SO you see it must
take time to bring the sentiment OF 4
poem into harmony with our nature, BY
staining ourselves through every thought
and image our Being can penetrate.
Then again as TO the mere music Of a
new p0e.l why, who can expect anything
more from that than from the music of Il
violin fresh from the makers hands? Now
you know very we'll that there are no les
than Gfty-cight different pieces in violin
These pieces are stangers to each other,
and it takes century. moro or less, to
make them thoroughly acquainted At
last they learn to vibrate III harmony, and
the instrument becomes an organic whole,
as if it were great seed-capsule that had
grown from garden bed in the Cyemonia,
or elsewhere. Besides, the wood is juicy
and full of sap for fifty years or so, but at
the end Of fifty or hundred more gets
toleraby dry and comparatively resonant
Don't you see that all this is just as
true of a poem? Counting each word as
a piece, there are more pieces in an aver
age copy of verses than in violin The
poet has forced all these words together,
and fastened them, and they don't under
stand it at first. But let the poem be re-
peated aloud and murmured over in the
minds muffled whisper often enough, and
at length the parts become knit together
in such absolute solidarity that you could
not change syllable without the whole
worlds crying out against you for med
ding with the harmonious fabric. OBJ
serve, too, how the drying process takes
place in the stuff of poem just as in thrt
Of a violin. Here is a Tyrolese fiddle that
is just coming to its hundredth birthday,
- Pedro Klauss, Tyroli, fecit, 1760,)-I
the sap is pretty well out Of it. And here
is the song Of an old poet whom Neera
cheated -
"Nox erat, ct coalo falgehat Luna serene
Inter miuora sidera,
Cum III magnorum numcn lsesura deorum
In verba jurabaS mea.'
Don't you perceive the Sonorousness of
these old dead Latin phrases? Now / |
tell you that every word fresh from the
dictionary brings with it a certain succu- |
enee; and though [ cannot expect the
sheets of the " Pactolian,'' in which, as
.old you, [ sometimes print my verses, to
get so dry as the crisp papyrus that held
those words of Horatius Flaccus, yet you
may be sure, that, while the sheets are
damp, and while the lines hold their sap,
you can't fairly judge Of my performances,
and that, if rlade of the true stuff, they
will ring better after while"
--e--s-r--a-~s.1s--------@--
PLUTARCH compares envious persons 10 cup I
ping glasses, which ever draw the worst hum
Drs after them; they are like flies which resort
TIar