Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1877-10-06

"The Shepherd of sharondale."

"The Shepherd of sharOndale."
Decorous is tho record that embalms merit.
1t is fitting that the pen which wrote so well,
but which shall never write again, should re-
ccive grateful recognition. and that the genlal
and pure thoughts which, 10 orr midst took
form and shape Of English undefled, should
again be called to mind before, perhaps, to
many OF us, they are parted from forever.
The literary relnains Of Dr.. Francis j. Muir
ply are scattered through the pages Of twenty
years OF periodical literature. Fugitive, much
Of it beyond recall, hsverse. like the "Song
of the Shell, " Of which he wrote SO prettily,
awakel.s echoes 10 hearts that know not whence
the strain they echo had lis birth.
He wrote many years ago for Black wood S
Eliuhurg Magazine for the knckerbccker,
when its pages flashed with the verse OF Fay,
| Morris and Willis Tor the Southern Literary
MESSENGER, when Poe was its editor, and Tor
other periodicals Of high reputation.
The especial characteristics Of DR.. NJ. ) verse,
besides its idionlatic English, are The absence
OF Mi uuainlnrss or afectatiou. The verse flows
vigorous and SWEET carrying oil many pretty
flower FROM III hanks, aud olteo ripping with
fauaic into bubbles that wear all the hues OF
beauty. Lacking sometimes the polish OF liter
arg perfection his muse whispers many we'll
turned tror', expressive epthet, aud delicate
fancy.
1t is ouy to be resratted that his genius did
not adorn some local subject With his pen, and
give Dryal to the neighborlng woodlands, or
a Naial to The creeks near By, assocla'ing pleas
ant :Ancies with the sights aud sounds Of Home
y memorial volume has just been distributed
amoug same of his friends. 1t daiatily enca5es
lev OF his poems, truants recalled from their
wanderings not without toll for they We're
gathered after pain had crowned him, and
When brain and hatl almost refused their Office.
A few eytraots from the Souvenir V oume
wilI be fitting close Of this last tribute to his
literary ahorS:
Aul the snowhakes wheel 10 light platoous
Through the dark and troubled sky,
And now like the ghosts oil murdered bowers
They seek the earth in countless showers.
Dust uoo dual Sweet child,
Was that dark sentence ever meant 10! thee!
For that bright form, that tablet undehled,
Creations mystery?
No, no it could not be, Tor God Is ust
That beautrou5 brow on who could call
that dust?
But oh, my baaueOus one
This gloomy path should not by thee be- trod ;
The grave, the worm, should not by thee be
known-
Go thou direct to God
Thy passport white at Heavens gate unrolI,
(N1 dirk hand writing Ger hath solIed that
Twas thus the Saviour spoke
Those little children. suffer them to come.
The mandate thou dilst hear the letters broke
Which kept thee from thy home.
4 while hIc' : threshold thou dld5t press With
gcr,
1874
Let me see 10 dream, in some Wild dream,
When the fever RACES high,
That dimpel smile Of the sunlit past
O0ce more before die;
And on waves Of sleep h1at near that home
Ooce more before die
y for the sound Of that seraph voice,
Sweet as the south winds sigh
O Tor the touch OF that gentle hand
Oncc more before die
For the farewell clasp of that fairy hand
O0co more before die
Come back lny pale faced darog
u come once more TO me;
viii we meet GO more forever
This side Of that silent sea-
| Meet again-Oh never, never,
This side Of that silent sea?
ID, hear thy spirit whisper
We will meet by that mystic shore
10 the groves Of the far hereafter.
la the land Of the evermore,
In the dim unknown hereafter
| Ia the land of the everm0re. 1874
The last extract is from poem never before
published, the last that he ever wrote. Per.
hap7 It is the key to a life cfen misunderstood
/ w. L. G.
| CIVIL RIGHTS CAsE-Captan j. B. Rdgway,
formerly Of this city, but now q passenger con-
duc!or on tho Baltimore and Potomac Rail-
road, had 3 hearing before United States
Commissioner Rogers, in Baltimore Thursday,
on tho charge If violating the Civil Rights at
by compelling Mary 4. Cooper, colored, to ride
in baggage car when there were accommodate
lions FOR her in the passenger car. Ex-Governor
Bowie, president Of the company, WAS present
The Baltimore American says
Mrs Cooper testified in substance thst che was
about to get On Captain Ridgwsy's train at Har
man station TO como TO Baltimore. The Cap
| tain exclaimed, Don't get in this car" (meaning
tho passenger carr "but 20 into the next (Which
was tho baggage car Mrs. Cooper went into
the latter, but seeing no seats. pushsd by Capt.
Rdgwsy and went into the passenger car. There
were three vacant seats, one Of which she took.
The Captain collected her fare, remarking at the
| time that he was not aware there were any va
cant seats in the car The witness ssid the train
consisted Of three csrs-passenger, baggage; and
smoking. She alleged that the captain had lre'
| ayfl olp,nalla3 hert IN N m