Litchfield enquirer., 1867-09-12

i shall stand out full and free, without re, i dundancy and without deficiency. In this respect, the work in hand is rarely excel lent, and may be safely commended as q model of clean and orderly workmanship the author never getting so captivated with a particular thought or image as to run il into disproportion, or cause any diversion from his leading idea. The tale, full ol touching interest in the matter, is told with I piercing simplicity and directness, and in a diction so transparent that the mind is hardly over tempted to stay upon 1t for an instant Take, for example, the passage which relates the first meeting of George Davenant and Esther Vane:
 As Davenant one evening to the beach Had gone to meet the sea, his head bent low Watching the traces of the cbblng tide, He saw upon the eddies of the sand little footprint new and sharply cut And following, with 8 childish, quaint caprice, The crescent sea-line close upon the foam. | He raised his head little: Not far off, Upon an ocean boulder that the waves With immemorial touch had polished smooth, There sat girl, he could not call her child, So rounded was her figure with the grace That years bring, blessings childhood into growth Scarce could he call her woman when he saw Her dmpied fingers shOWering pebbles out, And heard her merry laughter as they fell Rubbing like drops of rain into the sea- Her only playmate here, the freshening breeze, Tossed to and fro the brown locks of her hair, That meted into auburn round her neck, And, streaming backward shimmered into gold. Wondering, the youth stood looking at the maid. She whether by shadow startled up, Or whether by some secret current hit That flows between two forms with kindred souls, Suddenly, like bird that's taking wing,
 Rose to her feet upon the slippery rock, And glancng round, as if she sought escape, A moment, and not finding any, smiled, dblushed, and aeaft tapen the drlpping sand This is what we should call specimen of clear vision and pure expression. Just the right words, and just enough of them, to bring ont the sense And how natural and life like the picture! You do not hear the speaker, you see the object. To OUT sense, the workmanship is simply faultless, ''shimmered into gold," which, we confess, place, or conscious play of fancy. Oth- erwise, the thing is as clean and true as l light itself
 We must quote one more passage, in a different strain indeed, but hardly less de- i Gghtful in it's way Davenant, having been summoned home to England, was married to Esther, and embarked on his wedding day. His return has long been looked fol but nothing has been heard of him, and he is finally given up for lost, and the bel tolls for the funeral of the crew, and Day. i enport breaches sermon. meet for the I occasion; after which we havo the follow ing
 'The mourners left the house; the minister
 Game down the pulpit-stairs in gown and band i A-ad auines tn1EaEd her ere she xas aware
 Laid his white hand upon her head aiif sIaEc: 1 Hope is an amaranth, Esther, when it blooms | n H0I al rnTr yy1nV f>nIn | Roll the capped breakers over sandy reefs,
 Nor founder the frail bark in sight of land.
 But intertacc no myrtle o, my child!
 No earthly vine should touch the shining flower
 That makes the garland of the sons of light
 He is in Heaven, where like the Prototype, | He waits the coming of his faithful bride
 Go home and weep: Christ wcpt, and 50 may's | thou
 He kissed her forehead-itxas cold as ice: l He touched her hand-it as white as snow
 Weeping he saw that Esther could not weep
 Passive she took the arm he offered her l And answered nothing to the words he spoke
 Nor knew the paths he led her by, nor felt
 His presence till his absence called it back
 As the housc-door closed on him, and she heard l Her father sObbng then her woman's heart 1 In sympathetic tenderness gushed forth, 1 And, sitting on his knee, she hid her face
 With both her hands, and then the tears fell fast, Like raln-drops from vine stirred by the wind.'
 This passage taken thus by itself, may seem little Overdone; but read in its place where due preparation has been made fol it, the feelings go freely along with it and there seems no want of modesty in the nar- rative.
 Of the shorter pieces Ill the volume there are several that we should like to finger upon, but we have already exceeded our limits, and must content ourselves with naming few of them. ''Elder Brewster's Prayer" :'Andersonville, :" '"Trailing Arbu tus, ''Clematis," and ''On Receipt of some Seeds of the great Tree of California" are not unfair specimens of the authors skill in carving out single thoughts. From their titles 1t will be seen that the subjects arc indigineous. The workmanship, also tastes of home-growth, and not of importa- tion: the native virtues of the soil are in it.
 Yet there is no affectation of originality no disgusting of commonplace thoughts in
 far-fetched language and imagery; no sub
 stitution of obscurity for depth, or of ec centricity for character. The author, we
 understand, is lawyer by profession, an6
 eminently successful in that walk; poetry has never been a leading purpose with him
 and whatever he has done in that line t
 the result of native impulse, and not O
 any ingrafted ambition. We wish hin
 leisure and inspiration and encouragement for further efforts.
 Cooperation is, by little and little, gain