The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1867-04-25
Hopefully Waiting.

We have long been desiring to vel
come 10 our table a volume of poems
from our friend, the well-known pub
Usher, Mr.. A. d. +. Randolph, whohas
been doing SO much to introduce to the
world the choice productions of other
pens, and we are glad that in the midst
OF the duties of an arduous profession,
be has at length found time to gather
the fruits Of occasional hours spent in
the indulgence of his own cultivated &c.
Mus, and taste. For years we have
been familiar with some Of the. gems
contained in this volume, and we shall
prize them all themore for having them
In this form, associated with others of
ike merit. There is nothing ambitious
in the style of the poems; they are
modest flowers, but they breathe the
fragrance of genuine poetry, and they
have the richer fragrance Of a Christian
heart, all the richer because that heart
has been bruised. Indeed, the rarest
merit of these fugitive pieces, apart from
their real literary worth, consists in
their being the promptings of a heart
awake to all tho tender experiences of
life. Those who have hearts to love,
and hearts to feel when the tendrils of
the soul are torn asunder, will find their
own emotions traced in many of these
lines as faithfully as if they were written
from their own experience
The poems are nearly all of n domes-
ito character--lays of the hearthstone,
some of them written amid its Joys,
when the sunshine was breaking in at |
the window, and some OF them when |
the shadow had fallen, but not so heavi-
ly as to shut out the brighter light of |
heaven from the soul Of the former
character is the poem entitled "Rich
though Poor" the first stanza of which
is as follows:
No rood Of land In all the earth,
No shipsupon the sea,
Nor treasures rare Of gold or gems,
Do any keep for me t
Asyesterday wrought for bread,
Somust | toll to-day,
Yet some are not so rich as !,
Nor 50 poor as they.
We have been often reminded of
Motherwell, one of the sweetest of
Scotland's poets; in reading many of
these pieces, and especially in the Sab
bath Morning"
0 dayof love and calm delight,
WThe brightest of the seven "
Opreclous i0retaste Of the rest
And bessedness of heaven
0blessed scene of peace and love, tf
That seems to heaven akin,
Is this world Of pain and death,
Of sorrow and Of sin!-&c., &c.
Here is a stanza' from a piece entitled
"Less and More:"
Two prayers, dear Lord In one
Give me both less and more;
Less Of tn impatient world, and moro Of Thee
Less Of myself, and all that heretofore
Made me TO slip where ready feet do run,
And held me back from where fain would be- -
Kept me, my Lord, from Thee g
The longest poem in the volume is
Margaret Brown" one of the "simple
annals Of the poor,"--a record OF one
who, out of poverty, was made rich by
the grace Of Him who for our sakes be-
came poor We should be glad to copy
it entire, but we give a single stanza-a
specimen of the whole;
Long years bare passed--poor, blind, and old,
She waits until Gods VIII Is done
And yet her closed eyes behold
That world Of glories manifold,
And Jesus as tho Sum-
The hymn entitled "Longings" is
well worthy Of a place in our books of
devotion, 80 expressive is Il OF the
breAthings of soul signing after closer
communion with the Savior as the only
source oftrue peace. The following we
nave read again and again in order to !
make an extract, but il cannot be divid- ,
ID Many parental hearts will moisten t
I with tears as they readi