San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1878-09-21

the tolloAing chapter from his MS of
the Poets and Poetry of Texas"
which be proposes publishing the pres.
ent season.-ED. FREE Press.
Mrs. Gen. Sam Houston.
BORN 1919: DIED 1867.
The name of Mrs. Houston had ac-
quired an attractive sound to our ear
before we read line from her pen.
She did not show her genius in her
first productions. Genius never blazes
forth at once with its noon. day splen.
dor. Bryant may have written remark
able verse at sixteen, and Pope may
have lisped in numbers at five, obut we
are sure that neither Shakespeare nor
Milton, Goethe nor Schiller achieved
their greatness without long and con.
tinued training. The evolution OF
genius demands continued and never.
ceasing struggle. None can be deyel.
oped without it, and the more power.
ful the greater the throe of partuitiou.
Her poetry is serious and aims at riv-
eting our affections at once. She con.
ceives poetry to be the language Of the
Imagination and passion, and hinges
on that which gives US immediate
pleasure or pain. She sees poetry in
everything-;n the warrior. as he leads
his victorious army to the battle field;
in the statesman, as he directs the ship
of State and builds up governments
in the architect, us he lays the founda-
ton for his massive structure in the
child, as he plays at hide and seek, or
repeats the story of Jack the Giant.
Killer; in the shepherd boy, when he
crowus his mistress with a garland Of
flowers; in the countryman, as he
gaaes with admiration upon the varied
hues of the rainbow in the miser, as
he hugs his gold in the courtier, who
builds his hopes upon smile; in the
savage, as he paints his idols with
blood in the slave, who worsbips his
master-in nature in all its grandeur
and simplicity. Hazlet says: I'VE
shape things according to our wishes
and taucies without poetry but poetry
is the most emphatic language that
can be found for those creations of
the mind which ecstacy is very Gun.
ging in" Poetry, according to lord
Bacon, "has something divine in it,
because it raises the mind and hurries
it into subllmity, by conforming the
shows OF things to the desires Of the
soul, instead of subjecting tho soul to
external things as reason and history
do"
Mrs. Houston has aeen called po-
etic star of the Southern cline. En-
deed she shines like Hesperus among
the lesser lights" She is garlarded
and crowned with roses and vine
lea;es. She has not been called pO-
ct CT the loftest enthusiasm, Of the
strongest imagination, but she has a
passionate sense of the beauties OF
nature, and a deep insight into the
workings of the heart; with quick
tact for propriety of thought and man
ners as established by the forms and
customs of society; sympathy with
the sentiments and habitudes Of hu-
man life, as she felt them within the
circle of illustrious friends. She fol-
lowed Milton in imagination. as be
winged his daring fight from heaven
to earth, through Chaos and old night.
She wandered with Pope from bis Ii
brary to his grotto, or from mis- grotto
to his library; she attends Spencer to
the care of Despair. and the grizzley
house of Plu.us is entered. Thus
this remarkable lady lived llfe-a
continued poem.
Margaret Lea was born near Marion,
Alabama, April 1lth 1919. Her young
mind was trained under her fathers
eyes until her thirteenth year, when
she was placed at school at Pleasant
Valley Seminary, the most popular
school of that time. While a pupil
of that school, her genius rapidly de
velOped aud she showed remarkable
talent for general literature. She de-
veloped such aptness for literary
knowledge that her teacher said to her
parents: Maggie will take her place
in the galaxy of the great and learned