New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-03-04
SALT RIYEK.
ny GEORGE ALFRED TOWNSEND.

Tn. ,oro bIue grass was dyed BY many rose'
Tns h,cn gray walls with oaks were corniced DER
Ana aropped their creepcrs TO the crystal shore;
And there we're walks IN groves where silence gre"
profouuder for the note Of the CUCKOO
where they. the phiosophlo few, cou'd Walk
Tn high Arcadian fellowship and talk
Who climbed each step but one Of powers ascens'
And losing that, we're doomed to Dahlsh"en''
little handful, driven from the sun
OF Power, to q lonelier Pantheon,
Here tncy discussed the Empire they resishe"'
And nober Empires Of the human mino'
One year IN four the waited vessel sped;
A wounded eagle guided 1t o'erneao'
The beaten hero who bad lost realm
Blew onward without mariner or heinz
Fate filed the wind. nor foe nor ir'ehd pufsueo'
But erander Nature gave her solitude.
No more the world Its ccnsure or applause
Heaped on his head, his memory, or his cause;
Grave and respectful was his welcome Inade'
And immemorial in this high arcade
He kept converse with statesmen as they came'
And fel, how Time was kinder still than fame.
Once on the strand they who the sceptre lost
Waited nc four years close him TO accost
whose boat was due. And Oldest OF tnem I'LL
Was one of figure soderiy aud tall ~
AT Bemis Heights army back ne pore
And took the sword their suilen Generai wore
For this he sought to pierce the splendid sun
Where steader fortune set her Washington;
Cast down for such presumption. he ap'des
The oldest exile on these silent tides.
In stature less bus not in spirit so.
Stand TWO who once wero mortal zoe ana Ioe'
One fell before the others deadly aaD' (z'
Rut Ali the winds OF Heaven blew bis fame
The other sought In various empires place.
Ard lived long and solitary race. t5l
still as they meet III this scQuestered spob
Where mind Is mind aud rivalry Is not.
The victim knows, perchance, their rate reversed
Had made the martyr OF the man aeeursed!
Again in talk old YOrk's redoubt they storn'
And at Quebec the ranks of Arnold form:
rbe senate's head and the Exchequer's source,
Twinkle with theuies tor luminous discourse.
Riyiere du Sci! What Letbe flows In thee
Where such as Burr aud Hamilton agreei
Who comes With this judicial, searching face
scotch In his nature, Southern in his grace
'Trs he a Congress chose to lead the crowd,
But to the spite of rancorOus faction bowed; az
Two ex,led here and two who might have been
Poured Oh his heal their jealousy and spleen; (3)
siucc then tuinuitOus assemblies make
Rulers or exiles to this ouely lake, (6l
Yet serving we'll through good or Ill report,
None fear In fame with Crawford to consort'
No. nor that trio youder in the glen
with heads OF gods bodies like to men;
The one whose eyes like diamonds In vault
Might lead the mind high heaven TO assault
And prove that Gods intention was at FAULT t)
None lost the scepire with SO deep regret,
No mind Oh power was SO divinely set,
None In its fuiless was more mt to rule,
Nome in its loss TO play the graver TOOL;
Still in the wildDcss Of his whltened mar
There lies the pallor OF long despair;
Rejected from his Kingdom. like Saul,
He 1aised a prophet and foieboded all,
Yet all he saw by !oS'c came TO pass
a nervous giant in a mouse or glass,
Debate and hate revolt. contention gore,
TIE slave freeman aud the master poor,
Though In the mart his wasted ashes lie.
Here IN Valhala walks Calhoun for aye.
Earnest as he but lighted like a star,
Shines there the visage of an orator; ~
Ithuriers stature and trumpets tone,
Where eer he walks he leads, and he alone.
Thrice in the lists he rode TO take the crown.
Thrice in the dust his prncely head went down,
But though defeated. all the world agree, {
He had the plenitude OF chivalry:
etill in his smile this twilight turns to day,
And Nature brighteus at the name OF Clay.
Austere revnrpd, vriupuou:, endowed
With fire aud darkness Ike thunder cloud.
Doyes be whose eyes with tender greatness shine, (U
WHO stood like Moses on the mountain line,
Worthy to take Goes tablets of the law,
And break item TO Il multitude IN awe;
Tut not to pass INTO the promised state.
To die unmuruitrlHE, even al tne gate,
And leave the uamc OF Webster to the land,
Oue Just too human to b, wholly grand.
Here stands but one who wore the crown awhile,
And lost Il with wrinkle and a smile Q0)
The hive Van Buren,, greater in defeat
Than blaltdy mInisprIg IN C&5ars seat;
The torch he welded better than tile sword,
In his revolt reeled dOwn the feudal lord,
lie tarried long behind his tme and went
To exile like veteran To his tent.
Ye. there Is one whom death bequeathed the throne,
And sought TO win 1T. living, for his own QD
The gracious FilmOra. fashioned best for love,
To play Apol o AZ the AL of Jove;
lie saw, like 5 w ard. an invader sal
TO conquest, theu.I himself had raised the gale,
And both rccitc in tails ens!rined retreat,
Their cOuntry's glory III their own defeat.
so also he who found the mountain path
Freaont,-but not the road that glory hath;
And martial Scott whose many cubits bring
The office OF the GaarGsnlan, not the King;
Together these the hinpid ripples glass,
The subtle Douglas and the timid Cas-,
Tie yeGrning Chase with ermine on his breast,
Over heart sick in IL scoptre's quest;
High.mctted Breckenridge b. exile bowed
And young Mcclellan, Hamlet Of the crowd,
With cautious Seymour in the whirlwnd spent
That threw a soldier forward from his tent
They speak together. hearty and unvexed,
who spies the shailJpa Who is coming nextw
Then in the sky mOe an eagle grew,
And something floating on the river drew;
A golden tight sh0Ie OF a steady sail
As sunken sun upon c!Oudlet pale;
Nearer it came and nothing else seen
No standing exile. passive and serene,
But dropped the wounded eagle from Its sphere,
And on the shaliop lighted on bier.
The vessel grounds on the mcodious shore,
And every exile looks the dead one DER;
He lay like one at work. lain down to nap.
Tied round with beard as by sleeping cap,
Benevolent and crcdulou3 OF face,
As one whose world lay IN "a printing case,
And who bad played the mghtiest games OF self,
With but quill and not q care Of pelf,
Till kindness set him foremost In revolt.