The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1882-02-27

IOf Mr.. Longfellow's poems, repeated
wherever there is an English tongue TO SPEAK,
many may be Of more poetic value than my
Lost Youth but no other Of the splendid
gifts he has made to literature can so command
our interest to-day. The poem, though not SO
subjective, is as exquisite work OF imagina-
tion as sThe Lost Bower of Mrs Browning.J
Often 1 think of the beautiful town
That Is seated by the sea;
Often in thought go up and down
The pleasant streets of that dear old town,
And nv youth comes back to me-
And a verse of a Lapland song
Is haunting my memory Still:
"a boys will is the winds will,
And the thoughts of youth are long, lorg Thoughts.
can see the shadowy lines of its trees,
And catch, in sudden CLEANS
The sheen of the far surrounding seas,
And islands that were the Hesperides
OF all my boyish dreams.
And the bruden of that old song
1t murmurs and whispers still;
"a boys will is the winds viii. ;,
And the thoughts Of youth are oi 6, long thoughts
remember the black wharves and the slips
And the sea- tides tossing free;
And Spanish sailors with bearded lips,
And the beauty and mystery OF the shps,
And The magic of the sea.
And the voice of that Maynard song
Is singing and saying still:
"a boys Will Is Lile RlHu Will,
And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts
remember the bulwarks by the shore,
And the fort upon the hill;
The sunrise gun, with its hollow roar,
The drum-beat repeated DER and DER,
And the bugle wild and shril.
And the music OF that Old song
Throbs in my memory still:
"a BOYS will is the winds will,
And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts
1 remember the sea-ight far away,
How il Numbered DER the tide,
And the dead captains, as they lay
In II cir greaves, o'erlooking the tranquil bay
Where they in battle died.
And the sound of that mournful song
Goes through me with a thrill;
"a boys will is the winds will,
Aud the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts
I can see the breezy dome of groves,
The shadows of behring's woods
And the friendships old and the early loves
Come back with a sabbath round, as OF doves
In quiet neighborhoods.
And the verse of that sweet old song,
1t 1iutters and murmurs still;
"a boys will is the winds will,
And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts
remember the CLEANS and glooms that dart
Across the school-boy's brain;
The sol and the silence in the heart,
That in part are prophecies, and in part
Are longings wild and vain.
And the voice of that ftful song
Sings on, and is never still;
"A boys will is the winds Will. .
And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts.
There are things of which may notspeak;
There are dreams that cannot die;
There are thoughts that make the strong heart
weak,
And bring pallor into the cheek,
And mist before the eye.
And the words of that fatal song
Come over me like chill;
"a boys will is the winds will,
And the thoughts of youth long, long thoughts.
Strange to me now are the for ms meet
When i visit the dear old town;
But the native air is pure and sweet,
And the trees that o'ershadow each well known
street,
As they balance up and down,
Are singing the beautiful song,
Are signing and whispering still:
"a boys will is the winds will,
And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts
And behring's Woods are fresh and fair,
And with Joy that is almost pain
Ny heart goes back to wander there,
And among the dreams of the days thai were,
/ find my lost youth again.
And the strange and beautiful song,
The groves are repeating it still;
"a boys will is the winds will,
And the thoughts of youth are long. long thoughts