The Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1855-1875, 1869-03-02
Beautiful Snow.

DARK Saturday morning, In the dead OF
winter, there died at the Commercial
hospital, in Cincinnati, a young woman
over whose head only two and twenty
swimmers had passed. She had once
been possessed of an enviable share of
beauty, had been dattered and sought,
for the charms Of her face and person;
was highly educated, accomplished in
manners, had been the pride of respect
able parents, and might have shone
brightly in the best of society. But in
AN evil hour the first wrong step was ia
ken and the road to ruin opened rapidly.
Having spent young life in disgrace
and shame, the poor friendless one died
the melancholy death Of q broken-hear.
ted outcast. s e
Among her personal effects was found
in manuscript the beautiful Snow"
which was Immediately carried to Enos
b. Reed, gentleman of culture and
literary tastes, who was at that time ed
itor of the National Union In the col
umns of that paper, on the morning of
the day follo wing the girls death, the
poem appeared in print for the first time.
When the paper containing the poem
came out on Sunday morning, the body
of the victim had not received burial.
The attention Of Thomas Buchanan
Reed, one of the first American poets,
was directed to the newly published
lines, who was so taken with their stir
ring pathos that he Immediately follow
ed the corpse to its final resting place.
Such are the plain facts concerning
her whose Beautiful Snow" will long
be regarded as one Of the brightest gems
OF American literature
Oh! the snow, the beautiful snow,
Filling the sky and the earth belowi
Over the house tops, over the street,
Over the heads of the people you meet,
Dancing,
Fitting,
Swimming along;
Beautiful snowiit do no wrong;
Flying to kiss lady's cheek,
Cliaging to lips in frolicsome freak,
Beautiful snow from the heaven above.
Pure as an angel, gentle as love.
Oh! the snow, the beautiful snow;
How the fakes gather and laugh they gol
Whirlinz about in their maddening fun,
1t plays in it's gee with every one,
Chasing,
Laughing.
Hurrying by;
flights the face and it sparkles the eye,
And the dogs with bark and bound,
Snap at the crystals that eddy around
The town is alive and its he 4 aslow.
To welcome the coming of the beautiful snow1
How wild the crowd goes swayiEg along,
Hailing each other with hrmor aud songi
How the gay sedges like meteors pass by,
Bright for the moment, then lost to the eye
Ringing, L
Swinging,
Dancing as they CO.
Over the crust of the beautiful snow;
Snow so pure, when it falls from the sky,
To be trampled in mud by the crowd rushing by,
To be trampled and tracked by the thousands of
feet,
Till it blends with the filth in the horrible street
Once was pnre the snow-but fell
Fell like the snow from heaven to he'll;
Fell to be trampled filth in the street,
Fell to be scofFed at, to be spit and beat;
Pleading,
Cursng,
Dreading to die,
Selling my soul to whoever would buy,
Dealing in shame for = mersel eff bread,
Hating the living and fearing the dead;
Mereiful Godi have fallen low?
And yet was once like the beautiful snow.
Once fair the beautiful Snow
With eye like a crystal, heart like its glow;
Flattered and sought for the charms of my face.
Father,
Mother,
Sister, all,
God and myself I've lost by my fail,
The veriest wretch that goes shivering By
Will make a wide swoop, lest wander too nigh;
For all that is about me, know
There is nothing pure as the beautiful snow.
How strange it should be that the beautiful snow
Should fall on a sinner with nowhere to go!
How stranget would be when night comes again
II the and the ice strike my desperate brain,
Painting,
Freezing,
Dying-alone,
Too wicked for prayer, too weak for my moan,
To be heard in the street Of che crazy town,
Gone mad in the joy of the snow coming down;
To lie and to die in my terrible woe,
With bed and shroud of the beautiful snow.
Eg The heirs of Conductor Corwin,
an account of whose killing we recently
published, will receive from the Conduc.
tors Insurance Company $1,000. There
are LOO members, and each pays 81
into the treasury for the benefit of the
widow and children, or other heirs, of
deceased members Of the association