Daily national Democrat., 1859-03-24
aaiIp National 1rmortat.
Miles Standish.

"The Courtship of Miles Standish," and 9TH
er poems by Henry w. Longfellow. 1t is
the first copy that we have seen of the first
named poem in this city, although Amy has
small supply of them now on hand.
This poem is written, as is well known
even by those who have not seen it, in as
near an approximation to the hexameter
verse as the English will admit of, and is
simply tale which embodies a portraiture
of the early times of the Pilgrims. Miles
of the founders of the Colony of Plymouth,
and leader of the band of Pilgrims who
came by the Mayfower He employs his
Secretary, John Alden, modest but intellec-
tual and noble young man, to make proposals
of marriage for him to Priscilla, beautiful
Puritan maiden 1t is an awful task for
Alden, for he is himself in love with the
Plymouth beauty. But he nobly fulfls the
task, though bootlessly for his master, for
Priscilla wont have him. She loves John
Alden. Standish, when he hears Adcn's
account, grows wrathful and accuses the
youth of deception. He goes to war with
the Indians, and the report comes back that
he is killed. Alden and Priscilla get mar
ried, and during the bridal performance in
steps Miles Standish, alive and well, having
conquered his anger as well as his enemies,
and blesses the couple Many very beautiful
and affecting scenes are interviewer in this
outline, which will well repay perusal.
We have room for but few extracts from
the poem. The following is a part of the dc
scription of John Alden's execution OF his
mission to Priscilla:
So through the Plymouth woods John Alden went
on his errand;
Crossing the brook at the ford, where it brawled
over pebble and shallow;
Gathering still, he went, the May-aowers
blooming around him,
Fragrant, filling the air with strange and won
derful sweetness,
Children lost in the woods, and covered with
leaves in their sumber.
puritan flowers he said, "and the type of Pu-
ritan maidens,
Modest and simple and sweet, the very type of
Priscilla
So Twill take them to her to Priscilla the May
flower of Plymouth,
Modest and simple and sweet, as parting gift
will take them;
Breathing their silent fareWells as they fade and
wther and perish,
Soon to be thrown away is the heart of the
giver."
Reaching the house of Priscilla, the fol-
lowing scene is presented
Then, as he opened the door, be beheld the form
of the maiden
Seated beside her wheel, and the card wool like
suowdrift
Piled at her knee, her white hlnds feeding the
ravenOus spindle,
While with her foot on the treadle she guided the
wheel in its notion
Open wide on her lap lay the well-worn psalm
book Of AinswOrth,
PRINTED in Amsterdam, the words aud the music
together,
Rough-hewn angular notes, like stones in the
wa1ls OF oheNhyard,
Darkened aud cveshung by the running vine of
the verses,
After Alden's return and his recital of his
i'll luck in negotiating for Standish, mes
sage comes for the latter's immediate attend
ance at council;
Meanwhile the choleric Captain strobe wrathfully
away to the Council,
Found it already assembled, impahently awaiting
Men in the middle of life, austcre and grave IN
department.
Only one Of them old, tie hill that ,oas nearest to
Ue0een,
Coreyed scih snolc, but erect, the excellent Elder
of Plymouth.
The poet thus speaks of Alden's intention
20 return in the Mayhowes to England, in
order to escape the anguish Of his divided
,2utytO Standish and love tos Priscilla, which
determination he vasely abandons upon see
ing Priscilla's beseeching look towards him
on the shore:
He too was eager to 30, and thus put an END to
his anguish,
Thinking TO Ry from despair, that swfter than
keel is or canvas
Thinking to drown in the sea the ghost that wouIu
rseAnd pursue him
A glimpse at the big ingin, heap" OF
those days, and We are done with our eX
tracts
Then Wattawamut advanced with a stride in
front of the other,
And. with lofty demeanor, thus vauntngly
spake to the Captain:
~Now Wattawamut can see, by the fiery eyes oI
the Captain,
Angry is he in his heart; but the heart OF the
brave Wattawamut
Is not afraid at the sight. lie was not porn oi :"
woman,
But on a mountain, at night, from an oak-trce
riven by lightning,
Forth he sprang at bound, with all his weapons
about him,
Shouting, Who is there here TO fight with the
brave WattawamutY
Then he unsheathed his knife, and whetting the
bIadeon his left hand,
Held it alJft and displayed woman STAGE on the
handle,
Saying with bitter expression and look OF sinister
meaning,
81 have another at home, with the face of man
on the handle;
BY and by they shall marry and there will be
plenty of children !"
For the balance of the story, call on G.
Amy.
DETERMINED TO DIE-A young lady came
into DR. Wickes drug store yesterday after
noou, and requested the Doctor to give her a
dose of ."cold pisin"- that would