The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1859-07-21
For the Ottumwa Courier.
The ssReYieW,, Reviewed.

The "RevieWS Reviewed.
"Rcview" of I'm Forgotten" by "Pro
Tenn" ESQ.,, Pseudo Critic. Attention CIV
en- to Law, Counsellor Statesman 23d June
1859:
The author of .'Im Forgotten" hereby
tenders one hundred thousand thanks, justly
due his tall friend and delectable Reviewer,
for the magnanilnous services he rendered in
noticing so publicly, kindly, unanimously,
and grandilaoucntly the verses as above
headed; sorrowing that the Statesman was
net seen week earlier, so that this acknowl-
edgement could have been prompter in ap-
pearing. The bantling is we'll worthy the
shiny pit from which it emanated, and doubt
less has been the cause of many laugh and
ribald jest, the only praise its redoubtable
and nomadic- minded father sought We
"grinned" when we saw the expression,
"begstated like a green bay horse' @ Green
bag horse! Shadow of Barnum's Museum
Surely mono but the prolific brain of our
learned Reviewer, could imagine horse of
SCREEN 5ay' color We are further told
I'm Forgotten's author ''now rusticates in
and about the classical shades Of Ashland"
Classical ShnaesP Oh-ah-yes, we under
stand. They mean the illustrious shadow of
our county walking Encyclopedia, extend
ed over Ashland, and happening to fall on
the apex Of the University was split into a
thousand fragments, part of which now en-
shrouds the forsaken school house, singing
the song of Brandy and Sugar to the Ash
aa3 breezes' and "geDtle Ashland" while
the melodious strains Of ''our mill grinding
like steamboats, whistle, ''fit among the
! treeses"! Wonder if "our milr' ever pla-
| giarizes?
We think that none but tyro at Law and
an explorer of the "Sublimely Ridiculous
would place such construction on the word
"prime," as it stands in 'T'm Forgotten" as
our impartial and infallble Critic did.
Again: Nothing short of the prophetic
vision of an inspired polo would have ever
hazarded similar conclusion" A sensible
declaration truly, and one that upholds the
literary credit of its profoundly thinking
writer; but Mr.. B we did not witness
"a steamboat IN thundergust" when we
wrote that verse, besides we were so near
your ''classical shades we feared catching
your ''sneezes' or taking your "wheezes''
should we venture to make our machine work
so fast as 'our mr' which ran beyond mea-
sure. But we venture that none save hyp-
orcritic or buffoon would interpret that verse
as you did. "For definition of style" our
Critic tells his readers to "see Salmagundi,
Linscum Fidelus, ETC., (Ae suggest) or the
"History of the Four Kings, life of an idiot,
for he (the Critic can not explain it. Here
is another result of long-pondered and logi-
cal thought: ''But few would remain on the
Older ground" which means poetica1ly,
original ten1 .f0naa. Shades of Cowley,
Dryden, Pope, and Byron. Poeticayly, old
en- ground means tena firma DIR. Holmes
you are behind the age! Your "Autocrats'
and Professors" are nowhere Again
"For definition of measure. see Musical
Monthly the leader Of any brass band, a
miller, the Emperor of Hayti" or the King
of Alco-Hall, the Despot of Bran Dee, for it
is evident our Kind censurer knows not the
first principle of measure in poetry.
The delightfully."- versatile Reviewer was so
enchanted by imagining the cloud of vapor
arising from bowl of hot whiskey punch.
he trans-mognifed our stream into col
umn of steam and compressed it in gal
lon tea-kettle! Well was it the imaginary
boiler didn't explode in the brainpar of our
Reviewer, otherwise vast amount of impe-
rial reasoning and deep expositions of the
ridiculous obstruse would have been lost to
mankind and Ottumwa been deprived of a
character. With grand rhetorical flourish
after majestically displaying his own power
of language, our Reviewer closes descrip-
ton of verse in 'I'm Forgotten" thus -
"Par excellence, the best O. 0 what an
infallible critic! Longnnus, Horace, Pope,
Cibber, Byron, Southey, Hazlitt, Lander and
Holmes must be laid on the shelf, for "Pro
TEN" of Ottumwa, Iowa, has invented a
better mode of criticism ....
A month since we thought our rhymes
unworthy of notice, but when we read the
"Review" of "Tm Forgotten" hope sprang
to lite, for we knew then, they drew the at
tention of ONE, although he is zone horse"
critic, and we confess we exulted some over
our new germing celebrity. We are glad,
''Pro Tenn you are mot Griffin" for Griffin
would not be you for all of Pixies Peak.
June 80, 1859. T. H. GRIFFIN.
Sa bbath School Celebration at