National Republican., 1877-11-01
The Inyalid's plca.

ny ALICE CARY.
oh summer. my beautiful beautiful summer
LOOK n thy face, and long 50 To live;
but, all hast III u room for an tdle new conner,
With all things to take aud with nothing 10
Iiye7
With all things to take Of thy dear loving Kindness
The wine OF thy sunshine aud the dew OF the air;
And With nothing to give but the deafness and
blindness
Bcgot in the depths Of an utter despair
The little green grasshopper, weak as we deem her,
'hirp, day ~ and out hrr the sweet right To i've;
And caust thou, GUNNER, make room for
dreamer,
with all things 10 take and with nothing 10
give
Room only tn wrap her hot cheeks In thy shadows,
And all on thy dnisy .frngcd pillow ole,
And dream Of the gates "i III" glorious meadows
Where never rose Of the rpscs shall def
These lines, among the last produced by the
gifted poctcss were written when the hand of
death was upon her, in the home Of dear
friend In Northern Vermont, whittier she had
gone TO pay long-promised visit. Mrs. Mary
Clemmcr, in her touching memorial Of the
Cary sisters thus speaks Of this visit and the
surroundings in which the "lnvalid's Plea"
was written: "From this bay-window In which
she sat she looked through vista OF naples
ont upon a broad expanse Of neadow-lawn,
whose velvet turf Is of the most vivid mala-
chitc green, soitcned on its farther edge by u
grove wherein the shade of spruce and pine,
elm and maple contrast aud blend. Beyond,
Lake Memphrcmagog sets its glitter
ing shield between the hills. On Its
farther side green mountains arise till
they hold the white clouds on their
heads. Below, Jay Peak stands, 900 feet above
the sea, while above Owls Head scars,
over 5000, covered with forests to its
summit. 1t Is u picture fit for Paradise.
She, sitting there, looked out upon this con-
sunmato scene; looked with her tender, stead
fast ewes across these emerald meadows to
the lake shining upon her through the open
ing hills to the mountains smiling down from
the distant heaven, their keen amethyst
notching the deep, deep blue of Il cloudl,sS
sky. The splondor of this northern world fell
upon her like n new, divine revelation. The
tonic in its atmosphere touched her fccb!o
| pulses the peace hrooding in its stiffness pen
ctrated her aching brain with the promise of
| u new life. Then she wondered land her
wonder was sad with hopeless regret WHY
summer after summer she had fingered In her
city home till the crash and roar Of the streets
| had filed her body and brain with torture.
| How blind / was she exclaimed. Il said
that / could not take time from my work
and now life has neither time nor work
left for Inc. How much more. how much bet
| ter, | could have worked had rested. lf,l
| am spared, how differently i will do. will
come here every summer and live Alas be-
| fore another summer the winter snow had
| wrapped her forever from the earthly sight Of
| this unuttcrable beauty. lleH from the be-
ginning was the fatal mistake of so many
brain workers-that all time given to refresh
ment and rest is 50 much taken from the re-
| suits of labor; forgetting or not realizing that
| the finer the instrument the more fatal tile
effects of undue strain, the more imperative
the necessity Of avoiding overwear and the
perpetual jar of discordant conditions; forget
| ting also that tie rarest Towering of the brain
has its root in silence and beauty and rest"