The Portland daily press., 1882-02-28
"Songs Of that high art
(which, as winds do in the pine,
~ q Il TFind an answer in each heart"

81
~ 4 TFind an answer in each heart
and We ssszst to bear witness to this
More than this we meet to testify our sense
Of personal obligation to him not merely for
the exquisite pleasure afforded by the wonder
full melody of his verse, but for the didactic
force that has impressed it on us that
All common things each days events,
That with the hour begin and end
Our pleasures and our dscontents
Are rounds by which we may ascend.
It is no mere gospel of idle contentment with
pleasant triaes that he has preached to us.
Even the dullest of US could not read him
without being moved at least to strive to place
ourselves on higher plane-Excelsior In
ancient days poet and seer were convertible
terms, and the best of our modern poets are
prophets also.
What insight was it which made Linn in Janu-
ary, 1861, rouse us with
'I.sten my children and you shall hear
OF the midnight ride of Paul Revere"
when all unconsciously we stood so near an
other and bloodier Lexington?
Philanthropy of the purest, patriotism of the
most exalted kind have by turns inspired him;
and whether he sings of the Slaves Dream, or
the Warning draaaa from HveGtsH
nThe poor blind Samson in this land
Shorn of his strength and bound in bonds of STEEL.
or Of the Cumberland sunk in Hampton Roads,
or of the beautiful youth slain at the ford, the
fhe heroism and endurance which carried this
Snation through its last great struggle triumph
ant Weuwes& to pass an hour in expressing
our admiration for the bard, the scholar and
the patriot, MhSH every utteranco from his
youth up has been sias and noble and has tend
ed to raise this nation in the scale of human-
ity / am proud to say that when he lived
with us he was an active member of this society,
and the ripe and golden fruits Of his historical
studies we have in the story of Priscilla the
Puritan Maiden-in the pensiye loveliness of
Evangeline, that tale Of the strength, submis-
sion and patience" of the Aeadian refugees and
in the musical song of Hawatha, and many
another gem evoked from the Chronicles of
the Past and set in tuneful verse. But after all
it seems to me that that which brings him
nearer to our hearts, and has more to do with
bringing us together here tonight than his
wide spread renown or the fame that attaches
to his more stately and elaborate poems is the
light which he has thrown around home and
hearth and heart IN some of those lighter but
unequalled lyrics which from time to time have
'sgone through us with thriiF'-whlch
are haunting our memories still, and which
are and will always be dear 10 us because
dear to those whom we love. Who OF us can
think of home, now, and ali that we hold dear
in it, without somehow associating with it and
them reminiscencesof of The Footsteps of Angels,
The Golden Milestone, The Old Clock on the
Stairs The Children's Hour. The Fire OF DRIFT
wood The Wind over the Chimney, and Day
break, and Twilight and the Curfew and the
Psalm, ami the Goblet of Life, and The Reap
er and the Flowers? And where can stop,
having begun to enumerateY
For nearly 80 years have occupied the house
he lived in when in Brunswick-an old house
whose first proprietors have long since passed
away, and sometimes wonder whether it is,
in his thought, one of the Haunted Houses,
Through whose open doors
The harmless phantoms on their errands glide "a
With feet that make no sound upon the floors. ~
Since the wonderful legend of Sandalphfn
first made lodgment in my memory more
than score of years ago cannot number the
times have been called upon torepeat it In
the stiffness of the evening hour, and in the
weary night watches, because its melodious
numbers had in them a spell "to quiet the
fever and pain'' of one who has now for years
breathed the fragrance that is waited through
the streets of the city immortal" And hence
it is that "The legend feel is a part of the
hunger and thirst of the heart, and my warm.
est gratitude goes forth to him who ministered
comfort to the invalid in the sweet strains that
breathe unwavering faith and trust in the
good All-Father Hence say that we meet
here to express not simply our admiration of
the poet, our sense of obligation to the teacher,
the patriot and philanthropist but also our