Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1862-02-07

into his household, There he breathed n
freer atmosphere. and botook himself to the
studies which he loved. Devoiedy attached
TO letters, and OF sanguine, poetic tempera-
ment, he fed to his home as a sanctuary and
to his books as a welcome relief Minglng
during his latter years. except in the ordina-
ry routine Of public and private business,
very little, as the writer believes, with the
world, the genial qualities Of his heart were
revealed only to his most intimate friends,
but in the domestic circle he is said to have
shown forth the keenest sympathies, and the
most tender affections.
SO great was his energy Of character that
the disease which cut down his comey form.
must have long preyed upon his Wtals before
he suffered it to be known Two weeks be
fore his death the writer Of this sketch found
him cheerful and buoyant as was his wont.
In this frame he remained until the last, com
pressing his lips, closing his lids, and COM
posing his own limbs in the very article Of
death. What he did in public life, as has
been said may be forgotten. lie died too
soon to reap the full fruits Of an energetic ca
recr.
But he had won a better hold on the mem
DRY of men than by those fretml pursuits
which broke down constitution Of unsur-
passed vigor. The element of endurance was
to be found not in the tolls of his ambition,
but in the labors Of his love. For the laurels
ofthe poet, il must be confessed, arc more last
ing oven than the trophies of arms. So said
the gallant Wolfe, when on the night preced-
ing the day ON which he persisted ON the
Plains of Abraham, he read with fearful eyes
10y the light of the full orbod moon tho stan
zts OF Gray's Eicgy. and he declared that be
would not exchange for all the glory of the
battlefield the fame of him who wrote that
poem The interest which men feel even in
the founder, of governments, diminishes when
nations have dccayed but thoughts of essen
tial beauty, though expressed only in some
little balmy poem, mast breathe fugrantly
forever They bloom like violets in solitudes
or over ruins, they steal into the heart, their
sweetness is exhnled or borne away far on
musical airs, to soothe the troubled spirit.
The better part,--the very soul of Eastman,
was dmmed by the dust of earth in those
pursuits wherein he mingled but il shines
forth like an untarnished gem in that lyric
poetry in which his genius delighted He
has written songs combining Doric feeling
and simplicity which might be worthy OF
Burns. and that too in his boysh days, so
that before he supposed that he had begun
to live in earnest, he had perhaps accomplish
ed the only things which would not die We
might be disposed 90 regret that he had not
been enabled to devote the whole of life TO
that which seemed destined to endure, instead
OF perishing as he did among things perisha-
BILE Yet if he had disappeared from the dns-
" arena, if he had shirked the struggle and
the manly strife. we cannot sa~ whether
sweeter flowers would have been reared than
those which sprung up, as it were by chance,
here and there out of a hard soil, and by the
wayside For poetry is not Of predetermina-
ton it is the happy evolvement of W know
not what causes it springs from combina-
tions which are past inyei ton it is the
birth of genius it is the inspiration Of a mo-
ment All the gold which can be offered
would in vain conduce to bring forth ma
tional lyric for example, so grand in move
ment, so majestic in harmony that it would
stir up the hearts of the people to their pro-
foundest depths The Marselase burst
forth like liquid fire from the heart of Revo-
luton, and the British anthem is the express
sion of composed and settled loyalty Those
exquisite stanzas entitled 1.-The Burial of Sir
John Moore were inspired by the very
grave
by the struggling tnooubea,os' misty light
And the lantern diuy burning %
Who wrote them; know not but it is
not certain that the author ever composed
another line. Poetd ndscitT non ft-and a
very poet cannot always make poetry.
Snatching, then, what few calm moments
he could from hurry and hustle, our author
| has struck out certain little lyrics which at
{ once took hold of the popular heart, and
married with music, remain as much in favor
as at first They are to this day the delight
] Of the parlor and the Preside.
There is one personal characteristic which
may be deemed worthy of mention, that h,
scarcely ever began to compose poem with
out having himself from head to foot in pur
water, and putting on clean linen. Whistlinl
and working in his garden on a summer d y
he would throw down the rake, hurry up t.
his study, bolt the door, though he ha
changed his linen in the morning the process
must be repeated, and then denying admis
mission to the most urgent visitor, he woul
sit down as if he felt the influence Of Castal
ian dews, for be said that inspiration coul
scarce come to a man in a soiled shirt Thu
purified and refreshed by baptism like thi
he would approach the shrine Of the MUSES..
The English press, naughty and arrogar
in that literary wealth which has been tn
collection of ages, 10th to find any thin
; which is not initiated from some work of the
a own, given to supercious sneers over almo'
every new book which originates on this sid
t of the water, is least of all willing to az
b knowledge that the poetic element can exi'
at all in a land devoted only 20 the mo,
vulgar realities. aud where the majesty Of Tn
f people is synonymous in their view only wit
the characterization Of mob, Blackwood-
r prince of magaznes-has been facie prmcep
/ even ahead of others in high toned exclusive
- ness, though sometimes willing to display
feather from an American savage, as whei
a few years ago, it published, with commenc
alton, as coming from the wilds OF Arkansa
- Albert Pixies " Hymns to the Gods" Won
- der(ul discovery it now made That little rec
Y covered volume entitled Poems by Charlie
. G. Eastman" printed in Permoni--where We
f Vermont finds its way by the spirit Of tn,
enterprise with which the author must has
o magnetized the book, into its literary den I
c be covered with dust. But at last III
: thoughts CLEAN out. Who is kastmani
c Yankee says Maya Of the Yankees
!. Yankee of the most nasal utterance and nj
?. doubted breed !" What has he written
= Trash-trash-of course trash But VIII
II have we here After all there is no d
h nying that the man has both power al
I nathos under the influence of ;rue feelif