The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1878-12-11
TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION.
MIR. LEIGHroxs NEW Poem.
Our wheeling Townsman Compliments
nv High AnfhorifY In LIterntnre.


Our n heeiIng Townsman Compllmented
by High Authority In Literature.
New York Post,-the late VIM. Cullen Bryant
paper.
Not long ago We mentioned very briefly
new poem, Change: the Whisper Of the
Sphinx, by Mr.. WIN. Leighton, whose I'M
doubted power, as shown in "The Sons Of
Goodwin" and in "At the Court Of King
Edwin" makes anything from his hand
an object of attentive examination. We
now return to the poem for somewhat
fuller, though it must still be meagre ex'
animation
The present poem differs radically from
It's authors former essays in this direction,
not only in form but in its essential char
acter. They had to do with human nature
in its varying moods; this poem is a medi'
tation upon cosmic laws. The dramatic
element which gave Mr.. Leighton oppor.
tunity for the best exercise OF his powers
Is here wholly wanting, and hence there
Is less in this poem than in either Of Its
predecessors to attract readers strongly; 1t
IL less easily possible for the reader 10 be-
come deeply interested here than In the
poems which dealt with human passions
and the fortunes OF human beings. We
are not sure, however, that "Change" Is
less worthy OF attention than It's prede:
cessors, or less worthy as an indication OF
its authors possession OF rich git Of
poesy. -.
1t is a sort OF symphony upon sing. e
theme; one thought peryades it from be-
ginning to end, but that thought scosmic,
and its expression varies with every page
OF the poem, finding constantly new illus
tration, constantly revealing itself in new
forms. We may call the poem the poets
attempt to give utterance to his concep-
ton OF the universe, to interpret the uni.
yersal law, to make articulate the voice OF
nature. The success with which he i'm
presses his own thought and feeling upon
the reader must OF course be the measure
OF his performance, and that success is not
small. The measureless extent OF time is
thus suggested to the imagination:
'tSostar Of heaven
Was shining In the cold extent Of space
When Time was born, To be It's natal light;
And when Time ends, the all-unuumbered host
on cleaning lights that fash and gllmmer forth
Upon this little WOrld-ay the white walls
OF OyerarrhIng skies, the heavens star masonTy
HOOled grandly over us-Wil, With our world,
Have lled their use, grown cold and du, anu Hlaek'
And died nameless unrecOrlcd death,
Time and the StATs!-the ocean and drop
The seashore and single grain Of sand!-
To gauge eternity by shine Of staEs
Were 6aTning candles to light up the sun.
"Dsy., months, years, centuries, are woven links
OF which an endless chain Is ever mAde:
Our dear To-day, the last and nearest one,
Joined 70 the infinite, our lite Nov,
One end suppOrted-by We know not what,
Beyond the limit where f1r-darting thought
Though plumsd with iancies fails Its baried night,
The chain Of Time Il hung"
This reflection upon the immutability
of accomplished fact, the changelessness
Of that past which was all change when 1t
was present, is good example OF the
poets method:
HRemembrance brings . train Of captive facts
within the pale d Judgment; builds base
On which the intellect ma! set itsstruetnresI
Or Fancy rear her quantity tAshIo led shapes
Hands down from predecessors heritage
OF science, literature, and mental toll;
Presents the broad experience Of the Fast
Rid In changeless lines L'inmobility
Nv which 70 shape the tOnSless, plastic Present.
As the great volumes Of the Past are allied
With the unChanging print Of actions done,
we turn page OF two and read the while
Our arts are written there We fam would change
Or blot The words where Folly 5 reckless touch,
or secret, or acknowledged $40, has vet
II soiling marEs on the Accusing page;
But and, alas! the Past cannot he changed
IN ancient times they wrote on leaves Ot bias
Or golden tables some important fact;
And In our day We cut the granite lace,
Or model iron Into pictured SHAPES
In the vain hope to tell n future age
Our thoughts or acts, successes or tlishlpS,
The tooth Of rust will gbaw the giant limb
M Ts,i,, nj mr. SnhihE m
In Swallowed features what We bid her tell;
Nor leaves Of brass nor ehiselled shapes d stone
VIII long endare; each may be taldhed;
But Fact fails not because the record die,
Nor shifts from III to god though sculptures tell
In dtep-cut letters monumental neS'
Here is an example OF what Mr.. Mont
gomery would call the poetry ofthe future:
As the sun ehangeth, earth, bis satellite,
By smaller marks reveals the same great hand
Whose touch perVurhs the blazing king Of day.
How manifold the changes Of the earth
Since Il WIS gAtheTed up amid the heavens,
| An infant world, and held IN young Time's lap
| But wherefore young? Time then perrhance Wa old
when moving Inward through imPFsSnaIe space,
SebulouS sloudlinss, from their ether homes
Drew them together 10 create 4 world
OF much attenuated elements
Aud gases thin; or when, much wrought BY ioree
| A nd fashioned into being, this new world
| A future home Of animated life,
| A garden-spot for man To cultivate,
| A strange ENHANCEMENT Of many laws
| Joined the great march Of planetary spheres,
Sailed in determined path along tie heavens.
But Time, grim nurse took no more heed Of
| Than doth the sea Of some brghi-tinted shell
Rolled up by murmuring tides on diamond beach,
And aashins with gay brillianee on each wave
| breaks on Its IuStEOus curves In sparkling drops
That cannot queneh the cleaning oral he-
Ever from hour OF her nativity
Hath restless change pursued sEiit-httlng shapes
WhiTled round about the earth's FOlnndity.
White haning hreS Condensed 10 solid mas
Tii round her poles long. sunless winters freeze:
The cooling crust, uPtorn BY Inward thrCes
That greatly moved her heaving, ieTTent breast,
Hath pierced the sky with cloud-capped mountain
Tn, seas have left their old, accustomed beds
To pour their floods upon the sinking land:
| From out the deepest caves 10 ocean depths
iIayS Islands sprung that buttresed giiBst the sea-
I'M 10 sweet light great mountains long submerged,
| And now rejoice TO catch on kindling peaks
Sea.Srottos where the shark once wood his love,
Deep under the blue tops Of curling waves,
| Are nov green valleys where the patient COW
ChcWs the sweet grasses and Arcadia smiles
While summer air, Olcolic idyls' slng'
Again the poet sings:
ask We Of Science What the years will bring
To Mother Earth she, the lnhexlble,
Can build trutn PrOphei-shadoHs o. the Fast,
The substance Of corresponding Future"
But after picturing wildly the science
suggested future Of the earth, he adds this
admonition:
$50 may We follow 40 imagined plan,
Working from laws whose secrets halt-disclosed
Tempt Us to guess al what remains ulearned,
| Yet doubtful of our steps for Il may chance
That while We build anew the scheme Of things
| What We yet know may bear 70 the unknown
Too small proportion, and our architecture,
| SET on q false foundation, alp away
| Like fair city swallowed by the Earth
| maj 10 volcanic rupture widely saPss
| IDftFn our best Imagining appear,
| IN daWniug light pl new discovery
| 49, a. i.I,HIis hguras Of a DRAM