The Hartford herald. [volume] (Hartford, Ky.) 1875-1926, 1875-11-24

poets of the highest order, and the
names of her departed Drake, Halleck,
Poe, Prentice, and a host of Others
standing beside her living Bryant,
Whittier, Sake. tongfelIow, and others
of a high order, forms galaxy of po-
etc brightness which any country
might well be proud to boast.
1t is strange, friend Mehenlit, that
genius and jdebauchery, assa general
rule GO hand in hand-together"-This
is true of .Columbia's brightest genius,
poor unfortunate Edgar A. Poe. Pos
sessing poetic talent of a superior order,
instead of fostering this gift that Allah
had bestowed upon hum, he made HIM
self miserable by continued excuses,
that very soon ended a life that might
have been the pride of his country and
himself-the brightest star in the tenn
pie of poetic fame for ages yet to
come. With an intellect that babe de-
fiance to 'Christendom for power and
greatness, he spurned this gift of the
Creator, and lowered himself to a level
with the beasts of the field; he debased
that heavenly intellect, and lay down
to bed with swine, as grOveling and
filthy as they But he has left us some
beautiful momentoes of his short pres
ence among IIs, and his "Annabel Lee
l consider the best ;poetical production
of America. The continued dehauch-
cry of the man caused his writings to
assume morbid aspect that otherwise
would have been foreign to them. Yet
are they still beautiful, and some shall
live whilst the language they are writ
ten in continues TO exist. He has gone,
and in pity and admiration we cover
up his innumerable faults, and gaze
with establishment on the sublimity of
genius which dazzles with its efnl>
gence the eyes Of even the strictest
moralist, until, in its lofty transcend
eney, he forgets the failings Of the man
in the majesty of the human mind.
The love songs of America are, as a
general rule, the merest trash and nom
sense imaginable. There are excep-
tions, and among those the songs of
the poet Sprague, in my estimation,
stands unrivalled for their pathos and
fire found in no other American song
writer's productions.
Ofnatiohal or good patriotic songs,
America has very few, and even those
are devoid of that merit by which we
must judge those kind Of productio ms
The ''Star Spaggled Banner" is, per-
haps the best, but it is completely be
ref of that heart fire which endear
such songs to the hearts of the natives
of those countries to which they belong.
The ''NIarseilles Hymn of Liberty"
has all the fire, energy, patriotism, and,
in fact, every requisite that is necessary
to such composition. sr-
The Frenchman, on the banks of the
Mississippi, hears the sound of the
grand old "Marsailles" with the same
thrill of patriotic ardor he felt when q
boy on the ban ks of his native Seine,
as he listened to its soul-stirring famil
lar sounds; and, in fancy, he is waited
again to the vineyards of his beautiful
France, or fights, in Imagination,
the battles of the famous Napoleon,
who had made his country the pride Of
her sons, the terror of her foes, and
the music of the grand old Marsailles
immortal. -g -..u- I-..... ...
| America has no such, and l would
think, friend Mehemit, that those
proud sons of liberty should cultivate
and encourage those ties that bind the
hearts of men to the land of their birth,
by offering suitable inducements fol
the best compositions of this kind that
could be written. 'ir -..".'.i -.''
/ would like to say more on thi:
subject, but my letter is already too
long, so | will conclude by hoping YOU
shadow may never grow less.
| Ar RrN TT ANFAn