Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1881-12-03
TWO POEMS.
The FayOrites of Lincoln ana
Garfield.

The favorite poems of Lincoln and
Garfield inspire a mourntul and per-
manent interest. The authors Of both
are unknown. Mr.. +. B. Carpenter,
the artist, writes that, while engaged
in painting Lincoln's picture at the
White House, he was alone one even
ing with tho President in his room,
when he said: There is a poem
which has. been a great favorite with
me for years, which was first shown
to me when a young mar by a friend,
and which | afterward saw and cut
from a newspaper and learned by
heart. | would he continued, give
a great deal to know who wrote it, but
have never been able to ascertain. y
Here is the poem:
Oh, WHY SHOULD TIE SPIRIT OF NOR
TAI BE PROUD?
Oh, whyShould the spirit Of mortal be proud
Like a swift fleeing meteor, a fast flying
cloud,
Afssh Of the Lightning. a break Of the wave,
Man passes from life to his rest in the grave.
Tho leaves of the oak and willow shall fade,
Be scattered around and together be laid;
And the young and the old, and the low and
the high,
Shall molder to dust and together shall die.
The infant a mother attended and loved,
The mother that infant affection who proved
The husband that mother aad infant who
blessed,
Each, all, are away to their dwellings Ofrest.
The maid on whose check, on whose brow, in
whose eye,
shone beauty and pleasure-her triumphi
are by;
And the memory of those who loved her and
Are alike from the minds Of the living erased.
The hand of the King that tho soeptcr hath
borne,
Tho brow of the priest that the nitre hath
worn,
Tho eye Of the sage and the heart of the
bravo
Are hidden and lost in the depth of the grave.
The poa'ant, whose lot was to sow and to
reapi
The herdsman, who climbed with his goats W
tho steep;
The beggar, who wandered in search Of hi.
bread,
Have faded away like the grass that we tread
The saint, who enjoyed the communion o.
heaven;
The sinner, who dared to remain unforgiven.
The wise and the foolish, the guilty and just
Have quietly mingled their bones in the dust
So the multitude goes, like the aOwOr or III
weed
That Withers away to let Others succeed;
So the multitude comes. even those We be
hold,
To repest every tale that has often been told
For we are the same our fathers have been;
We see the game sights our fathers have seen
We drink the same sire I'm and view the sam
sun,
And run the Same course our fathers have rur
The thoughts we are thinking our father
would think;
From the death we are shrinking our father
would shrink;
To the life we are c~linging they also woul
cling;
But it speeds from US all, like a bird en- II
wing.
They loved, but the story we cannot UNFOLD
They scorned, but the heart Of the naughty
cold;
They gTfeysd, but no vail from their slun
bers viii. come;
They joyed, but the tongue Of their Eladns
is dumb.
They died. ayl they died; and we things tn
are now,
Who walk on the turf that lies over the
Who, make in their dwelling a transfer
abode,
Meet tho things that they met on their p
grimage road.
? Veal hope and dependency, pleasure al
pain,
We mingle together in sunshine and rain:
And the smiles and the tears. the song Al
Still follow each otherSlike surge upon surg
IT'S the wink of an eye, It's the draught Of
From the blossom olhodlth to the p~aIeness
death,
From the gilded saloon to the bier and t
O, why should the spirit of mortal be Drou
Garfeld's iavoritc poem, which '
give below, has a lofty tone not until
that Of Lincoln's. 1t would be a du
soul who could read it without takiI
inspiration and comfort from it:
Hol REAPBRs OF LIES HARVEST
: Hel roapers Of life's harvest,
Why stand With rusted blade
Until the night draws round thee
And day begins TO fsdc2
Why stand ye Idle, waiting
For reapers more TO come?
The golden mora Is PASSING;
l Why stand ye idle, dumb?
, Thrust in Jour sharpened sickle,
, Aud gather in the grain;
, The night Is fast approaching,
And noon will come again.
The Master calls for reapers,
; And shall lie call in vain2
Shall sheaves lie thore unKathered,
/, And waste upon tho plain!
} Mount up the heights Of wisdom,