Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1874-05-22
Poetieal Proverbs from American Literature.
John Trumbull thinks that


| For paltry gold. or naughty rank
But gives her love, untaught by art
| COnhding, free and frank"
John Trumbull thinks that
No man e'er felt the halter draw
With GOOD opinion of the law"
Holmes, though more pithy in prose, al
waHs seems to be saying good things, as
'' II singing breath or echolng chord
| 10 every hidcen pang were gwen,
What endless melodies were poured,
| As sad as earth, as sweet as heaven"
V nth fades love drOopsi the leaves OF friend
! ship iali
a mothers secret hope outliyes them ALL"
And last
| On maiGens err and matrOns warn
| Beneath the coldest sky;
! Love Turks amid the tasseled corn,
| As IN the bearded rye.
j. q. Pereiyal says
Morning IS lightest
| only when heaven is fair,
| Beauty Is brightest
only when virtue Is there"
And e. P Morris
| When in life's storm
Hopes star TO nan grows dim,
An Angel kneels in wOman's i9rm,
| And breathes prayer Tor him"
| \ true tribute to the love of mother and
wife. FItz-Greene Halleck paid fine com
| pliment to his friend j Rodman Drake IN
Green be the turf above thee
Friend Of my better days
None knew thee but TO love thee,
NOR named thee but to praise.
Perhaps no poet, Shakespeare alone ex-
eeptcd has had 81 many beautiful and touch
ing memorials bestowed on his grave and
/ m hxr hr..f fha- Rt.h
and perhaps no verse is more beautiful than
this Of Halleck,-
| g Such graves as his are pilgrim shrines
| Shrints to no code creed confined
J The Delshan wales the Pae.tnes,
| The Meccas Of the mind"
g. d. Prentice, speaking of time, says
| =" nemarseless time
fiefce spirit OF this g.ass and sey the What power
,sn stay hin 10 his silent course. or melt
| His iron heart 10 pity ?"
y. p. Willis, though an ambitious man,
did not seem to think well of ambition, for
he says-
" Hos like mounting devil IN the heart,
Rules the unrein'd ambition"
LOngfellow has more verses that are
poems in themselves, than any other Of our
poets. Here are some OF them -
Life is real life is earnest
And the grave is not its goal
Dust thou art, IL aust retgrnest,
Was not spoken Of the SOUL
A feeling OF sadness and longing,
That is not akin to pain,
AMI resembles sorrow only
As the mist resembles the rain"
Trust no future, hOwe'er pleasant
Let the dead past burs It's dead
Aet.-act 10 the living present.
Heart within. and UVd Ger head"
There is no death what seems So j. transition,
This lie OF mortal breath
IL but suburb Of the lie elys an,
Whose portal we call death
Art is Ions. and time IS ieeting
And our hearts. though short and brave,
still, like mufIed drums, are beating
Funeral marches TO the grave.
Nothing useless IS or low;
Each thing in its place Is best
And what seems nut Idle show
strengthens and supports the rest
SO unto the bow the cord is
So unto the man is woman
Though she bends him, she obeys him.
Though she draws him, Yet she follows
Useless each without the other
Thomas Buchanan Read gives desolate
picture here -
The old old 5. a. as one In tears
Comes murmurins with its iOsmy lips,
And knock NJ at the vacant piers,
calls for It's long lost multitude Of ships
John Quincy Adams wrote verses almost
as well as he made speeches Here Is one -
Alas how swift the moments tJ
How dash the years along
Scarce here. yet gone already by,
The barden OF n song"
Thomas Bailey Alirieh gives quaint
thought in
'' And she stood like the thought Of a sculptor,
In marble, snowy and cold.
But her pure, sweet look was As foul lie
A. ever u woman told
According to his theory. Nature does not
| care much for greatness, for he says
Mature smiles on cur mortality A
sparros's DEATH or the unnotieed falling Of leaf,
| is more To her than when great msn dies
John G. SAKE mingles with his humor a
| wisdom that it would be well to study, as
the following lines will show -
| "Ia battle or Business whatever the game.
In law or in love il Is ever the same;
| In the struggle for power or scramble for help,
Let this be your motto Rely on yoErssUF
For whether the prize be ribbon or throne
The victor is he who can 90 a. alone =
Phoebe Cary says
'' So let my past stand just 1t stan.is.
| And let me now, ~ may, grow old
| am what am, and my iie for me
| Is the best-Or II hai not been, | hold
And Alice, her sister, cries piteously-
| TO have what's best Of US decrisd,
The need God gave US ssllo~od,
Till death comes plteously to hide
| Our unkissed iaces in the shroud-
| This IS 10 he wOtnan
Next to Longfellow. John G. Whittier
has the most complete single verses oil any
| of our poets:
The stream is bIi sbtest at its spring,
| And bIoOd is not Ike vine
Nor honOred less than he who helrs
| Is he who .ounds lne."
| For Of all sad words Of tongue or pen.
| The ssddest are these, 1t mi hit have been
Full Ii ishtly may the prize be won,
II love be fortunes spur;
| And never maiden stoop to him
| Who lrs himself To her,"
| Yet love will dream. and iaith Will trust,
| f,uce he who knows our need Is Just)
| That sonehow somewhere, meet Ne must
"urauk is coed and gold is fair.
| And hi Oh and low mate i'll
| But love has never known law
| Beyond its own sweet will"
| And In the hereafter, angels may
\ Roll the stone from its grave away"