The New York herald., 1878-12-02
TWO NEW VOLUMES OF POEMS.
LoNGFELLow's VERSES IN ''THE CHILDREN s
ALMANAC"

BosroS Mass, Nov. 80. 1878.
II is not every day that Boston has poet, hut
she IS to hnd next week. In tho person of the
author Of "Meg," Mrs. Zadcl Barnes G,istafson.
Meg according to the title page, is PASTORAL and
it relates the loves of rural young person who first
bestows her affections q flirting young student.
and then gives them to steady good young man
named John 1t must be confessed that this plot is
not strikingly original, and the phraseology and
imagery of the poem well worn as its story,
the writer being. apparently, one os those persons
whose memories so good and whose minds are 50
impossible that they hardly speak without using
words which they have heard elsewhere 1t oIten
happens that nosaics are beautiful and Meg m
spite of q hundred faults of versfcaton and rhym-
ing shows undeniable talent; bnt the best thing in
the book is the poem "William Cullen Bryant
in which the author is unusually felicitons in her
''derangenlent of cpitaphs' She represents all ma
tire mourning the man who had sung her liy inns
SO nobly. single passage of few lines Will show
both the faults of the author and the skill which she
shows in blending her phrases
He sang thy praise. o "Junc" and well mayst thou
Bring all thy beauty to his coming now
Let thy soft breathings, blending odors rare
@ I'M ,n1 giehn rs
OF shining wings-to veil the sacred place;
Ask of thy lilies. scarlet. purple white
Their fairest petals for drapery bright
Which the deft humnling bird and housewife bee
Shall weave with skeins of cobweb skilfuhy:
Sprinkle with incense thy most fragrant leaves
Distil in dewy morns and drowsy ewes.
1t may as well be said that il it can possibly be
managed by skilful wire pulling Boston is to be en-
raptured with these poems, and to believe that
GLOVER and slower" and true and view rhyme,
Mrs. Gustafson makes them, but even without
these efforts the book would probably sell well, for
readers Of light poetry have not very keen critical
faculties. and new novels always at this
season.
Another coming volume Of verse is "Out Of Dark
Into Light" by Mary A. Lachbury, with Illus
trations by the author. This is thin quarto vol
ume, published by d. Lathrop l. Co., in holiday
style. and the poems. although rather too Tenny-
sonan in style, by means bad One OF them
runs thus:-
1.-The glory Of the eesss s and the glory Of the ter
There Il dying in my days.
As when the moon grows faint at morn,
And stars die when the ! is oorn
So wanes the world Ger all my ways
Its hours Of brightness not bright;
It's golden lamps. a-bloom with flame,
Its affairs to the unknown name,
Burn with q false and itful light.
Though Pleasure sits y syren there,
And lifts the voice that lulled me long
To airy attitudes OF song,
1t dies upon the Needless air.
The stars are sinking; and my life
Mute witness of the unequal strife
Thrills with the promise OF the Sun.
The Children's Almanac, edited by Ella Farnan and
published to-day, contains the poems by Longfellow,
Whittier and Aldrich. Longfellow'sis is
James and l. oldest of potentates
Forward look and backward. and below
count As god Of avenues and gates,
The years that through my portals come and 60.
block the roads and drift the fields with snow;
chase the wild fowl from the frozen fen,
My frosts CONCEAL the rivers in their how.
My fires light uA the hesrths and hearts of men.
Mrs. Whitney's poem February il the best in
the book, all things considered. for it il not only
short and adapted to the juvenile mind but it has
the epigrammatic turn which all such bits Of
should have and which only Dr. Holmes, of
oil American writer's, always manages to give. This
Is what Mrs. Whitney says.--
Will winter never be over?
Will the dark days never go?
Must the buttercup and the clover
Be always hid under the snowY
All, lean me your little ear, love.
r Hark to beautiful thing
The wcariest month OF the year, love,
Il shortest and nearest the sprng
Houghton, Osgood Co publish the holiday "Un-
Gle Toms Cabin" to-day in binding Of bevelled
boards and red line paper. The pictures by
English artist and strong, but not remarkably
good The photography. by George Bullcn. and the
introduction, containing letters written to and by
Mrs. stowe about the book. are the most valuable
things in it, The next book published by this house
will be Holmes Life Of Motley"