Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1858-02-06
Pc L 7 K Y.
MY NAMESAKE.

1 III HhciuOIN W your iIlciu
For me. no wreath, bloom-wovcn, hides
The sobercl brow, and lessening hairs
For aught know, the myrtcd sides
OF IIccen are bare.
Their scallop-shcls, so many bring,
The f,bled founts OF song to try,
They've drain'd, for aught know, the spring
OF Aganippe dry.
All, wcll!-.the wreath, the muses. braid,
Proves often Folly's cap and bell;
Mehnks my ample beavers shaGc
May we my turn MS well.
Let Loves and friendships tender debt
BE paid by those love in life;
Why should the unborn critic whet
For me his scalping-knife2
Why should the stranger peer and pry
Ones vacant house of life about;
And drag, for curious car and eye,
His faults and follies out2
Why stuff, for fools 20 gaze upon,
With chat OF words the garb he wore;
As orl-husks when the ear is gone,
Are rustling all the morel
Let kindly silence close again
The picture vanish from the eye;
And on the dim and misty main
Let the small ripple die
Yet not the less I own your claim
=. So grateful thanks, dear friends Of mine;
Hang if il please you so, my name
Upon your household line.
Leu fulnc, from DfflLcN lips, DlOW WIDE
Her chosen nume-I envy none;
A mothers love- a fathers pride,
Shall keep alive my own
Still shall that name, rs now recall
go. The Young leaf, wet with morning dew,
The glory where the sun-beams fall
The breezy woodlands through.
That name shall be household word,
A spell to waken smile or sigh
In many an evening prayer he heard,
And cradle lullaby.
And thou, dear child in ripper days,
When asked the reason of thy name,
Shalt answer, zone 'twere vain to praise
Or censure bore the same
"Some blamed him, some believed him good;
The truth lay, doubtless, 'twixt the two;
He reconciled, as best he could,
Old faith and t0ncies new.
Tin him, the grave and playful mixed,
And Wisdom held with Folly truce,
And Nature compromised betwixt
Good fellow and recluse.
ale loved his friends, forgave his foes;
And, If his words were harsh Mt times,
He spared his fellow-men-his blows
Fell on their crimes.
ale loved the good and wise, but found
His human heart to all akin,
Who met him on the common ground
Of suffering, and of sim
"Whate'er his neighbor might endure,
Ofpain, or grief, his own became;
For all the ills he could not cure,
lie held himself to blame.
Ellis good was mainly an intent
His evil not of foreiought done;
The work he wrought was rarely meant,
Or finished, as begun.
"Ill served his tides of feeling strong,
To turn the common mills of use;
And over restless wings of song
His birth-right garb hung loose.
"HIs eye was beautys powerless slave,
And his ear which Discord pains;
Few guessed, beneath his aspect grave,
. What passions strove in chains,
ale had his share of care and pain
No holiday was life to him;
Still, in the heirloom cup we drain,
The. bitter drop will swim.
"Yet Heaven was kind and here bird
And there flower beguiled his way;
And cool, in summer moons, he heard
The fountains pla'h and play.
"On all his sad and restless moods,
The patient peace Of Nature stole;
The quiet Of the fields and woods
Sank deep into his soul.
ale worshipped as his fathers did,
And kept the faith of childish days;
And howsoeer he strayed or slid,
He loved the good old ways
"The simple tastes, the kindly traits,
The tranquil air, and gentle speech,
The silence OF the soul, that waits
For more than man to teach.
"The cant of party, school and sect
Provoked at times his honest scon;
And Folly, in its gray respect,
He tossed on Satire's horn.
"Bdt still his heart was full Of awe
Aud reverence for all sacred things;
And, brooding over form and law,
lie saw the spirits wings!
"Life's mystery wrapt him like cloud!
He heard far voices mock his own,
The sweep of wings unseen, the loud,
Long roll ofwayes unknown.
The arrows of his straining sight
Fen quenched III darkness; priest and sage,
Like lost guides calling left and right
PerpleXed his doubtful age.
Like childhood, listening for the sound
Ofits dropped pebbles in the well,
All vainly down the dark profound,
His briei-llyed plummet fell.
$50, scattering flowers with pious pains
On old beliefs--of later creeds,
Which claimed place in Truths domains,
lie asked the title-deeds.
ale saw the old times graves and shrnes
In the long distance, fair and dim,
And heard like sound of far-off pines,
The century-mellowed hymn!
ale dare not mock the Dervish whirl,
The Brahmin's rite, the Lama's SPELL;
God knew the heart-Devoton's pearl
Might sanctify the shell.
awhile Others trod the altar stairs.
He faltercd like the publican;
And, while they praised as saints, his prayers
Were those Of sinful man.
For, awcd by Sina's Mount of Law
The trembling faith alone sufficed,
That, through its cloud and fame, he saw
The sweet sad face of Christ!
Sand, listening, with his forehead bowed,
Heard the Divine compassion fill
The puuses of the trump and cloud
With whispers small and still.
"The words he spHke, the thoughts he pennd,
Are mortal as his hand and brain;
But, if they served the Masters end
He has not lived in vain!"
Heaven make thee better than thy NAME
Child of my friend, For thee crave
What riches never bought, nor fame
To mortal longing gave.
Ipray the prayer of Plato old;
God make the beautiful within,
And let thine eyes the good behold
III every thing save sin!
Imagination held in check,
To serve not rule thy poised mind;
Thy Reason, at the frown or beck
Of Conscience, loose or bind.
No dreamer thou, but real ali
Strong manhood browning vigorous youth;
Life made, by duty, epcal
And rhythmic with the truth.
SO shall that life the lruitage yield,
Which trees Of healing only give,
And green-leaied in the Eternal field
OF God, forever live!
HUME, SHIPMATE."-Thefo following q