The Portland daily press., 1867-05-30

Hon. A. Nj. w. Ball. of New .Jsrssv ia
henceforth fair game. His ridiculous claim TO
the authorship of Mrs. Akers's deserve5lv non-
ular poem, entitled "Rock me to sleen" ex.
plodes at the first touch of genuine cr;ticism
The reviewers of the Nation, the Tribune and
the Round Table, looked at the array Of re-
spectacle names in his pamphlet and murmur-
ed-"Hem Ball, member OF New Jersey Legis-
lature, worth $150, 600; his friend Morse of New
York, distinguished man; Grover, witness in
case, President of an Insurance Company, cap
ital stock, 100000; another friend, Marsh, of
New York city, eminent lawyer-Ball wrote
the poem of course" Not very logical perhaps.
but more rational than Balls pamphlet. which
none of them could have read. Meanwhile
somebody who writes over the signature wv
has reviewed the pamphlet in the New York
Times, exposes the ludcrous weakness Of the
proof upon which Mr.. Ball aud his friends
rely, and snatching from Mr.. Balls own ar
senal weapon with which to destroy him ut
terly, proceeds to administer justice as follows:
To any person of discernment tho precise
similarity III style, sentiment, &c. of the poem
Rock me to Sleep, with the other poems in
Mrs. Akerss volume is sufficient proof that
she is its author We recognize the poem as
hers, i'll the same way that we recognize poem
of Longfellow or Iennyson as theirs, by its
kindred quality with all they have written-
Now if in any case, despite such recognition
good extraneous reasons should appear for sus-
pecting poet of theft from some other per-
| sons writings it would be a strong point of
| presumptive evidence in the poets favor, if it
| could be shown that hitherto he had never, in
all his works, stolen anything from any
| body This would establish tendency, and
show a mind not prone to literary larceny
| We ask, then, waving the poem under dis
| cussion, has Mrs. Akers ever piltered aDybody's
poetry and passed it off as her own? She new
! er has So tar, good for her. Well, MIR. Ball
| is now under accusation with respect to Rock
Me 10 Sleep" and is doubly suspected, be-
| cause the poem betrays, ON examination as we
have shown, no kindred quality with the stan
| zas with which he has commingled 1t, nor with
/ anything else that he has written. Waving
| that poem, however, we ask, has Mr.. Ball ever
| before pilfered anybody's poetry, and passed 1t
| off as his own? Yes, he has!
| The tables shall now be turned upon this
| modest and honest gentleman. We invite the
| attention of the public to certain stanzas,
| claimed by Mr.. Ball, entitled Marriage Anni-
| versary," which we cite from Mr.. Morses pam
| phlet. In publishing them MIR. Morse asks
| aare they not based on the same pure metal
| that runs through Rock me to Sleep and
have they not its ring?" Thsy certainly are
"based" on the same pure metal, which Is gold
l the poetic vintage of rich and exalted mind
but that metal is not Mr.. Balls; and their
"ring" is not of that only, but OF another metal
| resembling gold in color, which is brass, anu
with which, both morSlly and poetlcaily, Mr.
Ball is plentitully endoWSo. lhey profess u
have been written in 1860 AM We propose Z
coliate some of them with poeIc entitled a
Still Day in Autumn, published in 49, twelve
years previously, by Mrs. Sarah Helen W alt
man. OF Providence, X. /. Here some STAN
zas from Mrs. Whitman's poem:
STILL DAY IN AUTUMN-is5a
love to wander through the woodlands hoary,
L In snff N IN a "A NV
| When summer gathers up her robes OF glory,
And like dream OF beauty ides away.
Warm lights on the sleepy upands waning,
Beneath dark clouds along the horizon rolled,
Til the slant sunbeams through their ffinges rain
Bathe all the hills in melancholy gold.
Beside the brook and on the umbered meadow,
J Where yellow iern-tufts feck the faded ground,
With folded lids beneath the palmy shadow,
The gentian mods, in dewy slumbers bound.
Upon those soft, frnged lids the bee sits brooding
Like fond lover 10th to say FAREWELL
Or with shut wings, through siken folds intruding
Crceps near her heart his drowsy tale to tell.
The little birds upon the hillside lonely
Fit noselessy along from spray to spray;
Silent, as a sweet wandering thought, that only
Shows its bright wings and softly gldes away.
The scenlless flowers in the warm sunlight dream
| ing,
Forget to breathe their fullness of delight
And through the tranced WOODS soft airs stream
ing
Still as the dew-fall of the summer night
So in my heart a sweet unwonted feeling,
| Stirs, lii e the wind in oceans hollow SHE'LL
| Through all its secret chambers sadly stealing,
| Yet finds DO words its mystic charm to tell.
We now give Mr.. Balls verses. 1t will be
seen by our italics that Mrs. Akers is not the
first lady who has suffered from his tendency to
literary larceny.
| MARRIAGE ANNIVERSARY.
My mind will arander back years three and twenty,
In this SOFT gloom Of an autaDaat day,
As memory gatheripg up her robes of plenty,
And mmgiing with my dreams bears me aicag.
And like the de,v.faH that SO still is stealing,
Each thought will enter till the pictures whole,
| And !n nlB heart sreet, unioonted feeling
Creeps up and bdthes each sense of my glad soul.
| Into these siNen folds orLife intyuding
| The past and present all are tinged with cold;
The Udrm lights OF remembrance still broOdft0
And from the future the black clouds rolled
| And these sDeet wandering Mougats like happy
! dreaming
| Show brightest ,siags whene'er think of thee:
All through the secret chambers haply streaming,
| They seek but lind trords to set them Tree.
| This mystic charm alone for me has keeping,
| So near my heart is Hitting night and day,
| That i'll the Jtliness of its tranced creeping
| My soul is ghtened while from you L stay.
But as life's suabeams slant and shadows leugthen
There are no shut wings of our youthful joy.
|
We will not pursue the citation through the
/ three or fnur maiOiuu stapzas in which tha