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


And Pilot to ferry me DER.
MISS NJ z. PIRRsON.
The poems of Miss NJ. E. PIERsoN come
next. We may say of them, as OF the
thousands of light illusions which find
their way into print, that they are pass
able. / notice, as among the best, l ask
one friend" and "Let me kiss him for his
mother!" The last verse of the latter esi
pecially will waken responsive thrill In
the hearts of many a mother bereaved by
this "cruel war; -.s
And ere they closed the coffin lid,
An aged form drew near,
And brushed the curls from off his brow.
And dropped pearly tear.
Poor boy" she said, $50 far away
From his fond mothers side
Then let me kiss him for her sake,
To whom it is denied"
But the best poem among hers, in my
estimation, if we regard the effect of de-
scription, blended with the play of fancy,
without allowing the thought to wander
from the subject under contemplation, is
her " Twilight Song"
Shadows gather, softly gather,
Ger the grassy steep,
Fairy breezes gently hunana'ng,
Sing the earth to steep.'
MRS. J. r. MMAsTERs.
The poems of Mrs. j. McMasters indi-
cate pious, cultivated mind, and spirit
clouded by domestic grief. This latter,
arising from the death of her loved chill
dren, is so evident as to impart its char
acter to much, if not most of what she has
written. There are others of her pieces,
however, written in different mood, but
scarcely less sad The fair fingers tremb-
ling over the strings of the Tyre, pass from
the refrain of grief for lost domestic treas
ures, to the regrets of heart which, firm
in its pledged allegiance and duty to its
present owner,-has loved as only a true
woman can love, and remembers as only
poet can remember. The loved, the lost,
though dead or false, still live in song,
and in the secret chamber of memory
for love is immortal and it dies not.
These two sentiments,-yearning for the
beloved dead, and that other sentiment
revealing the shadowy side of love,-un-
requited affectOn,-are the most conspic-
uous elements of Mrs. McMaster's poems.
Of the first, we find numerous examples
in "Glory on the Grave" q Requiem, 4"
and "Lovavi Oculos Meos; and of the
latter, in "The Suicide" and $50, For
get Me-" Religious hope is beautifully
portrayed in the poem entitled Thoughts
from Visions" suggested by the 18th
verse of the 4th chapter of job; and this,
with the "Suicide are her best produce
tons. From the latter l extract the first,
third, fifth and eleventh stanzas 30.
I. A storm hung o er a peaceful cliff
Where vultures built their nest, ~:
And thunders rolled with awful beat
Where winds refused to rest. ..
g. Upon the brink maiden stood,
With wild and vacant stare,
And shrieking breeZes tossed aloft
Her wildly flowing hair.
). They told me he was filsc-but oh,
needed not the tale;
trusted him, and all is lost,
Within bark so frail."
IL. With awful plunge, far down below,
She sank beneath the wave,
And surging waters roll above .-..
The poor mad maidens grave.
HON. II. L. GORDON ...
The Hon II. L GoRDON, though per-
haps more cOpiOus, has scarcely been more
successful in his efforts at poetry than
Governor MILLER. In fact, in this work,
the HOnorables, as class, seem to have
found Parnassus less easy to scale than
the heights of political fame. At any
rate, the three very worst poetasters in
the book have Honorable attached to their
name,-the above two and Mr.. DoNNRILY.
The Hon. Mr.. GoRDoNs failure in writing
verse is not to be wondered at, when we
see in what light esteem he holds tho Near
est affections of the heart,-those senti-
ments which are living realities in the
poets life more than in that Of all other
men. Love, Friendship, &C., are to him
: representatives only of 50 many "Dollars
and Dimes" as expressed in some verses
with this heading:
Dollars and dimes, dollars and dimes
Ali Lore Is purchased with silver and gold,
!. And Peace and Pleasure are bought and sold,
And Friendship is CRYING open and bold:
!, :. Dollars and dimes, dollars and dimes.
We may rest assured that poet, taking
this financial view of the destinies OF
earthly life, will never be sufficiently soft
I, ened and saddened in that school for poets
ss--affiiction-tO catch the promethian fire.
Ia lored one false? a friend base and
traitorous? peace banished and the bosom
troubled 2 pleasure taken wings and fled
IT'S only SO much money gone, and
"dollars and dimes"are the magic wizards
which are to recall them again. All, how
MANY of US there are who would willingly
Low down our dollars and dimes for that
love that friendship, that quiet peace and
pleasure buried forever in the past, to
brighten and gladden. our lives no more,
the Hon. Mr.. GORDON may never know!
But aside from this absence Of poetic
temperament,-teeming as It does with