The new era., 1860-02-16
Written For the New Era.
Epistle to Della.

My letter thus.-
All formal ways at once to drop.
Tween friends like Us.
How do you doa Time flies SO fast,
1t seems as if an age had past,
Since when saw thee smile the last,
And half that time,
Since your kind letter chained me fast,
Like music's chime.
You cannot think with what delight,
/ pass those scenes before my sight,
Which on my heart like visions bright,
Have left their trace,
Wnen fortune did our lots unite,
That little space.
Too true, alas that little space
All Fortune is Of tickle race!
Tho she may wear smiling face.
Her words are chaff!
She sets US on " a wild-goose chase"
Then stops to laugh!
She dashes from our very lip
The cup of pleasure we would sip +;
Fair buds of promise she doth nip
With blighting FROST
She gains our trust, then gives the slip,
And-we are lost
All me but man was made 10 mourn
To grief and disappointment born
Aye, live wretch, and die forlorn.
Alas he must
Well, with grin its te be borne,
And will, trust.
I've sung my dirge-'tis all lie!
Thou tickle goddess, defy
Thy wanton pranks, and evil eye;
Hopes bubble sure
Thou mayest destroy, and make me sigh,
But canst no more.
Nature has decked this world Of ours,
The actual world with farest flowers,
That bloom in spite of Fortunes powers.
A precious treasure
Which man may gather from life's bowers
In richest measure.
Gather, and bid his wants depart,
Gather, and press them 10 his heart,
Gather, and with them never part,
Till life be DER;
These cherish, man, and blest thou art
Foreyermore
Let Hope build castles in the air,
Let Poets roam they know not where,
Let joys of sense the sensual share
Enough Cor me,
Thy treasures on my heart bear,
o memory,
Della, have one pretty flower,
PIucked in golden summer hour,
Fresh, as when gathered from its bower,
My album in
To tell its name had the power,
Would be sin.
cherish it with tender care,
No vulgar eyes upon it stare,
And strangely seemeth it more far
To grow each day
Does distance lend enchantment" there
| cannot say.
Della, the SHOWS the earth have skirted,
And grass and flowers her face begirted,
Since by the briny wave we parted
With smiles and tears
And left those hapless realms, deserted
To wolves and bears!
You nestled in your mountain cleft,
Till winter of his rage was reft,
Then (oh, you had some mercy left,)
With bird-like glee,
You threw on wing your angel heft,
And sought the sea.
know the skies were clear and bright,
know the wee birds sung outright,
know the breezes whispered light,
That charming morn,
When Della wooed the winds in fight.
On wing upborns.
Meantime. stemmed the torrents course.
And traced the river towards its source,
And found lodging place, per force,
Of threats and coaxing,
Though quite too vile, and mean, and coarse
To be worth hoaxing.
Hoaxing's the word. What's not hoax,
These days of steam, and lightning strokes
All is puff, puff, and lies and jokes,
And dquackery-
The world contains few honest folks,
- Like you and me!
The parson tells an idle tale,
The doctor turns his patients pale,
To say the lawyer lies is stale
With wondrous ease
| The politician sets his sail
To suit the breeze.
Quack pills you have to warm or cool ye,
Quack speeches fame and froth TO fool ye,
New lights are plenty as unruly-