Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1858-08-21


So sang in other DAYS that gentle Knight
Gentlcst aud bravc,t, in undying song
Like ms own temper, sweet, serene, and strong.
"Lopf IN my Heart dRd UTite .' such was the word
In the wide woodlands through the shadows heard
By our own Household Bard when on hi, ear
/ Inc Voices Of the Night fell soft and clear.
And such the hgh behest which comes olttimcs
10 the true Poet of all yeaT and cmcs,
The Master Minstrel, from whose golden thought
! he perfect type. of humah song are wrought,
10 whom all men give place, and meancr thing,
SINK into Sabbath Stiffness while he sings.
Not so my weekday Muse; to me she cries,
Look through the world which all about YOU lies,
Inc noisy town, It's commol, daily life
Flushed with coarse passions, hot with selfish strife
The crowded street, the De.s of Vice and want
The gildcd halls where prd, and Fashion naunt,
Aud from their mingled threads, the grave, the CAV,
| Weave, If you will, the Epic of To-Day.
| "Forego," she cries ''thS boyish dream of Fame,
Speak as you see, careless OF praise or blame
Draw at venture; it may be, the point
OF your chance SHAFT sha pierce Welding Joint
In the stout harness of some veteran wrong,
Or iull armed folly, in its vantage strong.
Let but the world be honest and sincere,
For him alone whose inner sight is clear
From mist of passion or of selfish fear,
The truth, white rObed, shall, like a Ncstal wait
Beside the shrine and sacred fires of Fate,
hose touch ethereal gives he eve to see
things as they are, not a, they seem TO be-"
The "veteran wrong" is the ostentatious. cal
lous display of wealth with its preliminary and
dtAtilldul HdTu-nCurtcuneSS.
FIRKIN was worth two MILLIONS; his Inventory.
N Real aud Personal. told the pleasing story;
Two solid Millions. everybody said it,
Was not his name luminous orb of credit?
Was not his praise in every city Bank
Was he not foremos, in the foremost rank
~ MERCHANT PRINCES, that iuvincible host
The Empire City's proud, imperial boast
Her veteran guard, whose brilliant cash advances,
Nor with fixed bayones and bristng lances,
But with sharp bargains and keen speculatons
Carry her eagles to remotcst nations;
Boder than ever Templars or Crusaders
they sweep the distant seas, these daring Traders,
Than fabled Argonauts, or classic C;rsars,
They grasp the World, these modern Golden Feccers
Think not in this last verse, my Muse evinces
The slightest dsrespect 10 Merchant Princes:
There are whose hearts large and frank and loyal
Whose human nature, like their wealth, is royal;
In whose tree hands the gntering, dangerous dust
i not mere money, but sacred trust;
Long may we keep their true, untninted line
Such men are princes by right divine
Such was not Firkin in his princpality,
orse than high treason all hi- lberalitv,
No ray OF beauty, with unselfsh cheer,
Threw its bright beam across that dark frontier
Was seized and fortified as contruband.
! on read it IN his eye, dull, dark and stern,
Which cutched the light, but grudgcl a kind return
In genial glances, through the open day,
And with Il shrewd suspicion turned away.
Ills hard, square features, like an iron safe,
Locked in his thoughts; no chance. unnoted waf
OF fugitive feeling, unnwares BETRAYED
| he inner man, or mental STOCK IN trade.
The portly hgun, with its solvent air,
Proclaimed 10 all the world the Millionaire,
His purse and person both at fullest length,
And even the higher law which he obcyed,
With all his heart and soul and mind and strength,
To love his Maker for he was sELF-NADE.
Seli-made, self trained sel-wi,leG, sell-satisled
He was, himself his daily boast2nd pride,
His wealth was all his own hafhc lot won it
With his own cunning skilE There shown upon it
No grateful memories of ano:her's toll,
No flowers Of friendship gmced its sandy soil,
No ties ancestral linked ii with the past,
As in his hard, close hands lie held it fast.
His notions of ancestry, his supplemental
tomb of hcraldry in his purchased coat Of arms
He had it painted on his carriage doors.
Stamped on his spoons and inlad in the floors;
1t shOne, eplendent on each piece of china;
No work OF art. he lanced, could be finer,
When he beheld its lines, so bright and wavy
Clean in the soup and gimmer through the gravy,
Pleased MS child with every separate view,
Or a New Zealander with fresh tattoo.
his way OF wealth, a transcript from Wall
street; his creed, picture marked by one of
those fine transactions from hard vulgar life in
to the domaihof imagination and feeling, charac-
teristic of the poem:
And yet, he seemed devout; without much search.
You might have found on any Sunday morning
Ills visible coach, outside the visible church.
With green and gold its sacred front adornng.
A gorgeous coachman somewhat flushed with sherry,
~ 'lN'"'' ''''''''4i
Mated, whlle flrkih III the sanctuary,
With many other 'miserable siumers,h
Cushioned the carna man IN drowSy pews,
Dozed over gilt-edged ruhrlc PRAYER and psaltcr,
Rose wlth the music' looked win liberal views,
In cbnnt or s"n brn,H or nuthrm NJ snicnjid
And still enchanting when the chant was ended;
Then sat or knet grave at the altar hronzes,
And went through all the usual responses.
r nose Solemn pryeroa, o 'hVse ies ,i'o @ fupne IN
Thencefor,h % to sound oreyer"as When first '''''
Flooded WIN light, the lips Of Memnon burst
From their cold stiffness and rejoicing, gave
n3 n9cn nhrat 10 me nooa OF Day It's hde upoorne
Deem caI'~ n"G co mI'G NAV IwtpR m H' m'e'
Those lofty chants, frEsii echoed ti under domes
OF starry midnight, or in catacombs
M. Where by rude altars and sepuchTal tombs,
PeGp PoGpno1 III ,e ,hoi. ROCKY eGr me vesld ch9rs
Now walled fro,n ''Tfo Iins ,| nn .v llaryr WI Igo
To fall on Firkin's ear without the least
Responsive utterance, or the iantest notion
That they had any reference to devotion;
his philanthropy or misanthropy, which set
down novartx a or;,,,a o,d El,n,o1;tx, aa onl,,