Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1870-06-04

n GusnIng P0et Cnaseu Dy buit.
Charles Somers is his name-plain
Charles. Charles is of meditative turn
of mind, and, being a young man, is
naturally romantic He takes amazingly
TO Lalla Rookh, and has Nbeen known to
weep by the hour over the woes of Abel
ard and Heloise. He wears tight-htting
gloves and Byron collar, sports a man.
moth eye-glass and a mammoth cane,
and gushes, over with sentimental poetry
on the least provocation Charles parts
his hair in the middle, also, and be-
sprinkles his saffron-colored locks liber-
ally with pomatum and eau de cologne.
Take him altogether in his various and
complicated parts, and he is very nice
young man, the pride of the maidens and
the envy of all, the withered-up old spin
sters. We might describe him more fully,
but forbear.
Charles, with his many accomplish
ments, writes poetry occasionally, but
whenever he feels the inspiration, he al
ways withdraws to some lone, secluded
nook, to avoid interruption by the vulgar
herd, and then lets the steam on at the
rate of thirty-fve or forty trochaics an
hour. Last Wednesday Charles felt the
inspiration coming and so, providing
himself with an ample stock of paper
and pencils, he turned his footsteps
toward Kelly's Bluff, and reclining at
full length beneath the grateful shades of
one of the native oaks, with the lazy
drone of the beetle in the distance and
one or two grasshoppers playfnlly prac
ticing leapfrog on his back, he abandoned
himself to the task, and gave full reign
to his imagination. He had just dashed
off sublime stanza entitled : An Ode
to Nellie" and was launching out on the
second when he heard smothered roar,
and glancing back, was Mortified to find
mammoth bull, with head down, tail
erect, and eyes flashing fire, making a
bee-line for the back buttons of the coat
on his poetic body.
This was enough for Charles. He sud.
denly concluded that Kelly's Bluff WASH t
exactly the Parnassian retreat he had
been seeking for, and throwing pencils
and paper to the wind, he struck up a
pedalic tatto- making the leaves fly.
Mr.. Bull followed at Dexterian rate of
speed--a cloud of dust bringing up the
rear. The race, as might have been ex-
pected under the circumstances, was
very exciting one, the poet not fancying
the idea of being made the butt OF a
bull; while the bull was equally resolved
upon making a butt of the poet. Had
any sporting men been. present they
would undoubtedly have bet two to one
on the latter with but few takers at that
figure. Such bounding and leaping,
such turning and twisting, such dodging
and shrieking, such paving and mighty
bellowings, were never heard on Kelly's
Bluff before. His bulship was rapidly
gaining on the poet, who already began
to dream of an ,erial flight by anything
but magical influences, when all at once
bright thought struck him: why not
climb treel
He proceeded to act upon the sugges-
ton at once. Half dozen yards ahead
stood sapling, and toward this our poet
flew with tremendous strides, the bull
rapidly closing up the daylight between
them. Charles reached the tree, grasped
it with both hands, and Skinned up about
eight feet, just as the bull, coming with
all the force and momentum of forty
thousand battering rams, struck it full
and fair at the base. The, collision was
simply awful, causing the bull to rebound
like an india-rubber ball, while Charles
was shaken from his perch in an instant,
and fell to the ground on all fours, his
classical nose and large stone scraping
an intimate acquaintance, much to the
damage of the latter. 1t is worthy of re-
mark that the stone was not injured in
the least. As for the bull, he was-too
much dazzled and bew;ldered by his bat
tering-ram experiment to renew the con-
fiict, but kept running round and round
ina circle, switching his tail from side to
to side, and shaking his head as though
something had gone wrong in the upper
story. Charles, beholding the demoral-
lied condition of his enemy, gathered
himself up quickly and left the field to
the bull, who, at last advices, was still
running and shaking his head with an
guish. As for Charles, the poetic afiia-
tus had been knocked out Of him en-
tirely, and we fear it will be some months !
before the poetic ode designed for Nellie
is finished