The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1872-09-10
A PULL AT TIE ..PorLKs., !,
BY THE FAT CONTRIBUTOR y

Dreadiui fellows these poets are how
they do misrepresent things Little or
no reliance is to be placed on anything
they say. Goldsmith tells us of "Sweet
Auburn loveliest village of the plain"
carrying the idea that the place is main.
ly inhabited by carpenters-men Of the
plane Auburn is chiefly noted for its
State Prison. S,ceet Auburn, indeed!
Not 4 drum was heard, nor funeral
note" wrote Wolfe, narrating the burial
of Sir John Moore. How can we rely
upon his notes Of that funeral, when he
didn't take ''funeral note p
You must wake and call me early, call
me early,mother DEAR" sings Tennyson,
in the Nav Queen. Now, why not call
her Wade Hampton or Stonewall Jack.
son, as well as Early? Fact is, this was
before the war, and Early wasn't heard
of
Longfellow writes poem and names
it after Dan Rce's celebrated trick horse
Excelsior" He misrepresents things
in the very first line, for he says "The
shades of night were falling FAST" when
lit is notorious fact that window shades
were higher that year than they had been
for 3 long time, and were still going up.
If we can't rely on L Longfellow, what fel-
low can we depend upon2
Tom Moore sings: 1.-The harp that
once through Tara's halls the soul of
music shed," but neglects to inform US
whether the harp, after shedding music's
sole, was decent enough to get music re-
shod. Or, perhaps, emusic shed" was a
slang phrase applied in Moore's time to
concert saloon.
1t was cruel joke on the part of Cow
per to make Alexander Selkirk exclaim !:
81 am monarch of all l survey" when
Selkirk had no knowledge Of surveying
whatever. Cowper can't sell me, al
though he did Selkirk.
was at some pains, not long ago, to
hunt up the homestead of the man who
wrote the "Old Oaken Bucket" and
found there wasn't even cistern on the
place. They brought all their water
from spring, in tin pail He must
have had an iron bound conscience or a
moss covered memory to write as he
did.
The author of Casabianca tells pitt
full story how The boy stood on the
burning decE,,' when it was only burn
ing deck Of cards He wouldn't have
stood on that, only he hadn't good
hand to stand on. All wrong for the
poets to work up so about trihes
Campbell opens out: ''On Linden
when the sun was low" when in reality
the sun was high. jack and the game
He was right, though, about the game
being "On Linden Csnptelrs rheto-
ric is faulty, for in the first verse he
changes his figure from a card table to
a ball alley, when he speaks OF "lsor
rolling rapidly"
Campbell also records in verse the
elopement of Lord Ullin's daughter with
an oil prince, known as "Chief of Ulva's
lie" He tells how Ullin's hired men
chased them on horseback for three
days, and yet commences his poem: "A
chieftain to the Highlands bound" Now
if the chieftain was bound to the High
lands, how could he have effected that
three days flight? He was bound fast
to his girl, more like, for in the third
verse we read:
sand feet before her fathers men,
Three days we've fed together,
For should he find us in the glen,
My blood would stain the heather"
For exposing the young lady in {
leaky ferry boat on such a stormy night
the chieftain should have been fined in
the police court, even if they hadn'
find us in the glen"
i But these poets are so visionary they
are wholly unreliable, and they riis
things up dreadfully.