The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1874-12-11
ABBIE FLANNER.

The Romance of Fitz-Greene HaIleck,s
Life.
Like the faint perfume of a withered
rose long pressed in book and hidden
from sight, there comes to us half-for-
gotten story of the past. The bloom
and freshness faded from the flower
forty years ago. At its best it was but
a pale blue rose, growing in the rarified,
somewhat chilly atmosphere of intel,
lectual friendship. A different flower
is the glorious crimson rose that -four
ishes in the tropical air of passion,
tragedy and deathless love. The idyl
which We read, though full of the
pathos of "might have been" is not
flushed with the tints of the hearts
life bloom. The elements of interse
Joy and grief are wanting-there are
none of those bright lights or deep
shadows that make a love story ga
thing woven out of rainbow on a ground
of eternal black" like the episode of
Francesca and RimiDi.
A party of young ladies and gentle.
men of Mount Pleasant, Ohio, assem-
bled at the house of friend in that
village to watch the old year out. 4"
The incoming year was 1836-leap year.
Amid the merriment of the occasion,
some one suggested that the ladies
should avail themselves of the privilege
which it brought, and open a CORES
pondence with different gentlemen, men,
tiOning among others, the bachelor-poet
Fitz-Greene Halleck. The proposal
was passed by as a Jest, but in few
minutes it was noticed that Miss Abbie
Flanner, young lady of much talent
party. Quietly bidding good night to
her friends of the house, she had
slipped out and gone home alone. The
ground was covered with snow that
sparkled in the moonbeams. Walking
along slowly, scarcely noting the beauty
of the scene around her, she meditated
apOetical epistle to Fitz- Greene Halleck,
and reaching her room sat down and
wrote the following:
NEW YEARS NIGHT.
THE MERRY MOCK BIRDS SONG.
Ger fields of snow the moonlight falls
And softly on the snOw-white walls
OF Abb cottage shines;
And there beneath the breath of June
The honeysuckles gay festoon,
And multifora twines,
And forms sweet empowering shade,
Pride of the humble cottage maid.
Who now transformed and bold.
Beneath the magic OF a name,
Those equal rights presumes to claim,
Rights urged by young and old.
And who is she, to fame unknown,
Who dares her challenge thus throw down
Low at the feet of one
Who holds proud, conspicuous stand
Among the magnates Of the land,
The muses. favorite son?
As when she roamed a careless child
To pluck the forest blossoms wild,
Oft climbed some pendant brow
OF rock or cliff, to gather there
Some tempting flower that looked more fair
Than all that bloomed below
So now like Eve in Paradise,
Though numerous offerings round her rise
OF love and friendship bland
With many a sober blessing fraught.
Would give them all for one Kind thought.
One line from HalIeck's hand.
Like that fair plant of India's fields
That most when bruised and broken yields
It's fragrance on the air
Such is the heart I offer thee,
Pride of my cOuntry's minstrelsy
Oh, is it worth thy care ?
She signed this Ellen A. F. Campbell.
Incorporating her initials with the name
of SCOTS Lady of the Lake, and for
warded it to the poet.
In those days of slow coaches, much
time must necessarily elapse before q
response could be received, and it is but
natural to suppose that during the in
terval, buOyant hope and lively thought
alternated with misgivings and doubt
as to the reception of her letter.
Perhaps when the first glow of adven-
turous feeling passed, she half regret
ted her action and felt the natural
shrinking of woman's heart from Of
fering itself unasked, even in jest.
And when at last the long looked-for,
trembling eagerness she must have
opened and read it.
TTTTN