The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1865-01-27

tooW0 dkuOnS tuoee OF dOV. Miller, are,
eoE IN teafs and reap with JOY" and
little 1Agde." From $the first I take
Thine 4 the lot, mid stormy scenes
Io SOW the seed in tears,
aug Nv wstcn.with disappointment, Oft
ferc6ance Il by the wayside falls
Where fdepdless birds deyour:
VI blooms UPON the STONY propnd
10 withef In an hour -
VI thorns may choke the tender blade.
\ IA ana prospects pass away;
ne .oil, Inc nope OF months and years
In the poem entitled the "The Skv - an
effort to initiate Barry CORVALLIS poem
beginning " The Sea! the Sea! the Omen
seal" We find more ambitions effort and
consequently more evident failure
The sky! the sky! the lofty sky!-
Its varied scenes, its bursting arch
Far stretched 'bove aerial worlds on HIGH
The spheres In which the planets march
ELECTS praise, calls forth applause.
And bids cen admiration pause.
They bid her pause, nor dare attempt
task SO difficult or vain ~
As to define or cen to paint 2 20"
She mods assent, and crouchfng, cries:
Thy smallest orb my power defes. w.
Now, any wee bit of child may toddle
out, and gazing up at the sky, to it appa-
rently pierced by the tops Of the trees,
and exclaim, {" the sky! blue sky! the
great high sky!" and thus improve on the
governors line, for she would describe one
OF It's most apparent qualities, which he
Goes not! We cannot find any poetic
license ever issued by the muses. for say
ing that the arch of the sky is bursting,
and though" aerial worlds " might have
passed current in the days of CoMAs, since
the time OF GALnRo and NEWTON, at least,
any school boy ought,to know that stars
are not "aerial worlds" Nor is it yery ap-
parent to our obtuse vision by what poetic
rule admiration MS bid to pause when
gazing on the grandeur of the "bursting
arch," nor why she should "dare attempt
to define or paint the starry plain. Moth
ing in our conception can be too grand
and beautiful to admire; and though we
might bid imagination pause, nor dare to
define and paint the starry vault of con-
cave blue, we cannot admit that the legit-
innate task of admiration is to perform
such duties. Other examples might be
multiplied-some even more ridiculous
but we forbear.
JOHN Q A. WOOD. nj. -
JOHN Q. A. WooD comes next, and his
poetry is by no means of mean order.
All of Mr.. WOODS pieces given, are good,
and some of them, specially Z" Fathers
growing old, John, >" and Judah in Baby
Ion" are of q superior order. The first
is too well known to need quotation, ow-
ing to its popular character; not SO with
the latter, however, which is superior
poem, and one of which any living poet
might be justly proud. The scene and
subject is taken from the Babylonish CAP
tivity of the Jews, near its close, when the .
Chaldean King, having been an instrument
of punishment to the Jews for their idol
atories, had reached the acme of human
impiety and folly, in insulting God by pol
luting the sacred vessels of his temples, I
saw the finger of God writing his doom
and that of his empire on the wall of his
banquet hall. The lyric strain adopted BY
Mr.. WooD in this poem is beautifully
esA0PoOG w euO ouUJCCOs
IT'S eve on broad Euphrates' stream,
A song is by Euphrates heard, ..1 O..
And mingled grief and triumph seem
To breath in each prophetic word;
3 And harp and heart alike are stirred:
For Juduh's MINISTRIES feel the power
OF prophecy SO long deferred,
-. Come wildly DER them in this hour; (
The next six verses of the poem con-
taips the song, fancifully supposed to be
sung by the Hebrew Minstrels on that
fatal night, when commanded by the
wicked king to "sing one of the songs of
Zion" Passing over this song, we come
to where the poet renews the narrative:
8. Thus swept the captive's hand anew
The harp that once in Jewry rung,
And fast the welcome burden drew
The tears from hearts TO bursting strung
For sore the chain to bondage hung
On lsrael's neck where erst the peals
Lay lovingly, as gems among /
The braided hair of Jewish girls. .
g. But now on Babel's dancing towers
Cmmerian night obtrudes its wing,
And, impious In his urban bowers,
High revel holds the pagan king;
Away these paltry offerings fling
<AhN AoAcA VAC AuOAtAICu ulduQdUc lall8-
IBID captive Judah's minstrels
The harps they bore from Salem's balls, &c.
The following stanza, descriptive of the
scene the morning after the capture of
Babylon by the MedesS and Persians, is one
of the finest in the poem: "a
10 Night fades. Affair and level slime
Mom's saffron floods on Babel glowing,
And deeper tides than those Of wine
Have been within her palace glowing;.
And there are heaps of slaughter, showing
In many swath, the fights red sou,
While in the early zephyr flowing.
Brings the Median battle shout.
A true conception of this poem, the :
beauties of which / do not think have
been fully appreciated, can only be had
by its perusal entire. Affection Unre-
Quilted, -" A mother listening to the rain.'
1.-THE Coming of Winter, /" and the code
to New Hampshire" are all good /; l am
not, however, inclined to accord the latter
as high place as some might; It shows
the genius Of the author, but the thought,
especially in the third and fourth stanzas,
haara too much tho ;vnc,o-. ~ ;,,,.krouo