New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-12-11
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
WILLIAM D. GALLAGHER's POEMS.

IL,
NI.NI wooDs A GOLDEN WEDDING, sno ,n O,nit.
Poems BY WILLIAM ID. SALLA"
Robert Clarke Co. M, .honId he
.,';I;.r 80 most readers of American poetry SINCE
Co.. ,.nv wears selections from his poems nave ooo
.,ndoS IN ali the principal collections OF American
800 He ia n native of Pennsylvania ou' ii,S
warrants having moved to Cincinnati ouii"s LIE
cbiIdhood he has been Identified WIN 'ho "'0'
.var since and long ago was intimately associ-
oted with the chief literary enterprises oi .i0
Ohio Valley editing for several years Inc h'Po'" '
and other periodicals.. But since his early mahnoou'
when he published two OF three small collections
of verses which won him q reputation as Foo'' no
has appeared only as an occasional contributor W
pewspapers and literary periodicals of his adopted
locality generally, and no volume representing 'ho
work of his mature and middle life has appealeu
until now. .,
Miami Woods is poem of considerabieieng'n'
chiefly in blank verse, and is series OF
an nature and human society, through "hiCn ~. -.
an. s,orv of a chld's lte-a story OF doep ann ti
,nd ito natural OF religious consoia'ion'
,oaber,s blank verse is often OF unusua
resembling Bryants somewhat, pu' n1s
,varmth and richness of tone ana leenhe LIZ nay -,
&c doscrptiye passages seldom found ID DrVahss
,' IT, rar+s giving pictures of nature IN the
.;,,ava, forests of the West-for the poem covers
p,o,;od dating from 1880 TO 1S56-seem TO us InoSt
,,aasi,o and are often very fine. Take for example
thos. lines describing some features OF autumn III
the early West, which find In the frst oil inc
,or or eight sections into which the poem IL
divided:
Far in the quiet woodland The calm SKY
Looks snilingly upon me, and the ar A..
Comes laden vita the sweets OF anl uinn 'i"o'
And living with the niiirnnrs OF inc inc pee Clones
And insect tribes. Around Inc on the Slopes
TIE asteT blooms, and in the valley waves waves,
The %oiden-rod Beueath me, silver-br1ght,
rTae the calm waters with plaintlve moan
For summers parting l gl"T nf st,li lagoOns
TSst bask in southern suns the winter through
sails treless the uncrring wateI I Nh s, whore
Screaming among the cloud-rAcks OIt from "hoic'
In busny covert hid, the partridge stands,
Iinrsts snddenlv the whistle clear ana iouo,
psr mUrTnurs from the trees bending with brown
And riuenod mast. are interrupted OFT
lie turkey from tie thlcket comes, and I swift
A. flies an arrow darts the pheasant down
To batten on the autumn; ana the ar,
0f MYRIAD wings, as the Wild pigeon leads
His sduadrons to the banquet. Far away,
Where tranquil groves on sunny slopes supply
Their liberal store of fruita, the merry laugh
az children and the truant school boy shout
Ring ON the air, as, from the holoSs borne,
Nuts load their creak9g eatS ana i@fn
And gOlden-spbered perslumons spread DER all
The following description of the approach of win
fer Is also good. The imaginative picture IN the
closing lines is striking:
Now from the stormy Hur0n's broad expanse'
From Mackinaw and from the Michigan,
Whose pillows beat upon the sounding shores
Ice-mslung blasts, and raging sheets Of SNOW
The heavens grow darker daily bleakes, WI, Winds
Shrek through the naked woods; the roDpe1 OWL
Hoots from his rocking citade! all night
The long passages of social and political rehecIon
md discussion. of which there many in Miami
Woods are less pleasing as they are less poetlcal'
than those OF a simply descriptive nature. And as
whole the poem is chiefly valuable for series or
saason nictures in the Ohio Valley before the axe
81 4l.a and
forests of that region.
"a Golden Wedding is sort of Kentucky pioneer
cantata: thread of story. describing golden we'd
ding ON the Rolling ork in Hardin" holds together
half a dozen songs of pioneer life and romance
one of the best is The Mothers of the West" Two
groups of pieces "An Exaltic religious in charac-
teri and Life Pictures" follow "a Golden Wedd-
ipcn "Life Pictures includes one or two pathetic
ballads Mr.. Gallagher, editor and poet,
has taken an active part i'll political and social re-
FORMS Several of his Miscellaneous Poems y
show his interest in the vital questions OF the last
half century In America. Like Mr.. Whittier land he
is also of the Quaker sect his sympathies have al
ways been in behalf of right and freedom education
and growth and he has inculcated brave. hopeful
and courageous manhood, in such poems as 1.-THE
Dav that Is DawuiLg" Truth and Freedom" THE
Iaborer" etc. Wor<ng1nen Will appreciate these.
His Slscellaneous Poems also comprise several
notable lyric poems Of nature such as August
MAYA Summer Scene end charming piece
which we shall quote in full; it is poem with
which Wordsworth would have been pleased, had he
vyitten ii himself:
TIE CARDINAL BIRD.
She brought a redbrd in o
hung il from my wlndow-slI--
The redbrd then all tine rage,
And may be still.
know not-I 30 long have been
Amid the city's dust and din
But when was little child
greatly loved ifs wOOd-nntes WILL
Which lured me manv sunny day