The Saline County journal. [volume] (Salina, Kan.) 1871-1893, 1883-05-17
TINE NEW AaaemcAN poer.


ica needs is . poet "racy," - people
teen her Edgar Allen Poe. Mr..
been sueered ut by minor critics."
With all his merits IL may be allowed
that Mr.. Leugfeilow was European
quite" and even when he sang Of
Aiawatha, he borrowed his meter and
Q good deal Of his method from "Kale-
waia," the epic Of the Firms. Thera
was nothing peculiarly American in
Bryant: there h much that reminds
% Of modern Englieh poetry In Mr..
r. B. Aldricb. Walt whitman 10
Individually not poet The American
bard should BEL child Of nature; self
taught" like the minstrel Of Odysseus,
Q warrior, lover, . soaring human
being. He should be inspired, not by
the bed-ridden Pierian MUSES., not by
the traditions of Toltecs or AItecs on
his native coil, hut by the noble his
tory Of his own race In the New
World. He should not look to the
past for subjects, OF course. but live
Tin the living present." All these
qualities meet, We venture TO think,
In Thomas Brewer Peacock, author
of"Tbe Rhyme of the Border War;"
tCarieton 4 Co., New York, y an his
torical poem Of the Kansas Missouri
guerrilla war, before and during the
late rebellion"
Mr.. Peacock has been q warrior, he
ha minstrel. Like Achilles when,
retired from fight, Mr.. Peacock sings
In his tent of the gallant and renowned
exploits of heroic men. Few of our
modern MINISTRIES have been warriors.
The author of the "CharKe of the
Light Brigade" was never en- gagged in
battle, and he who sang Of FlOdden
Field had only taken part, ~ he told
the Gar, lin the alta In of the Cross
Causeway."
But Mr.. Peacock has been under
fire-nay, he has been hit;
Iynpsihi.e WITH tbos. Who fall
Doun stricken BY the deadly ball;
eer have felt th. cruel thing
Iesr throush my fesh With angry sting.
Rich I'm Imagination. as we shall see.
Mr.. Peacock is inspired by experience.
Like .Eneas lac tells of brsils Quorum
pors magma Juit. But let us turn to
the matter Of his Rhyme as he modest
iy calls his truly remarkable contem-
ponry epic. The hand that fired the
field piece strikes the Tyre.
The poet begins with no hackneyed
invocation to the Muse, with q frank
statement that he will do his best, ard
that he does not grudge any rival
poet his ,auyels. ut boots not who
best wears the bays" Then he in
forms Us that war II his theme, and he
leads us where Battle stamps his
bloody feet" that is to Kansas, before
the outbreak of the great rebellion.
Even then border rufiians and guer-
ri'ias disturbed the peace
o. 10 What ominous shadows dark
Tines finger points With svful meaning
Hark. the future stricken eroan hark.
The Widows vail, and the young bahe she
10 veanipe'
In these lines the amateur will see
that he has TO do with no common
writer. Mr.. Peacock brushes aside
the tropes and syntax of the gramma-
rian !: the trammeis of pro-ody break
round the mighty limbs Of his Muse.
See that the poem hath expressed
The music ofthe poets breast,
everything else Is unessential. In an
age when form" is everything, and
substance is sadly to seek, we welcome
the virile daring Of the sweet Kansas
singer.
Mr.. Peacock now addresses Kansas,
his native State
Once thou vert a dense dark wilderness.
when the Red Man monarch ruled,
I'll Pike Of Plies Peak came TO bies.
Mr.. Peacock has that noble aud
sonorous freedom in the use of proper
names which we admire In Milton and
In the Homeric Catalogue Of the
Ships"
Twas Judge Lecompte ~ho hrst essayrd
To hold . eonrt upon thy soil;
Ard thoVh he s.ore and eoa,rd and prayed
Thy laid was sh sm-d by many . brotl.
Here John Rrown the fanatic. made
A nam- which ie~ this day siinir-
And Jim Lane here his Iou,rs displayed,
In crstions touched with are.
We trust that q contemporary ad-
dicted to the worship of John Brown
will not lie unfavorably biassed by Mr..
Peacock s opinion of,that hero. Poetry
must be judged by itself, not by the
political sentiments of the author.
Kansas lay in darkness.
All through thy Border Runi,n days
End more 10 condemn than praise.
Again,
While Robinson and other men
Who Kansas served rs rulers then,
were Al the helm, the condition of
Kansas was deplorable. But since
the construction Of the Topeka d
Santa Fee Railway, things have
changed for the better.
Kansas, may You ever b.
thing u beauty And Of io,.
Mr.. Peacock now makes q some
what abrupt transition, aud sings at
considerable length about the parting
Of n bride and the bridegroom, who
went forth To fight the guerriits- OF
the lady he finely says:
Like early dawn upon the lake
She rested the heart Of ,sol
She ka-~ ~. would not her iorsake.
Nor her Willis, Who midst dangers trod-
We are next introduced to Quantrel,
the hero of the epic, and Lulu Earl,
his beloved, who is shot i'm border
brawl. Quantrel knew that Lulu's
home was thretened by freebooters;
80 from the camp he swiftly flies, |
On the hrst sized that met his eyes. |
He reached Earl's house, and, with
tina young Earls drove back the guer-
rillas.
And while they a y from the murierous lot
Back each man OF sends v-ngeful shot.
But Lulu was hit like Oriana), and |
died, saying:
List, hear the music-f.oisd hours
In endless silence onward 60
Here we cannot help but think that
Mr.. Peacock might not less sensibly
have written
List, hear the sii-ni-fos hours
In endless music onward go.
Who is not reminded of'even the
others would have heard of our strife,
even the gods of the neither world that
are with kronos? As for the girl
whose heart was not like q frozen
lake, she married one Of Quantrel's
troop, and after Q narrow escape in
battle,
rothe Colonel then she did appeal.
And found his heart was not all steel
The young woman next became a
Sister of Mercy,
Til eighteen hunircd and seventy eight,
when she yielded to the blast Of Fate,
Aud Stseer Celeste Anna Nckeenl |
Sleeps With the just and hlest I veen.
This little flower Of an idyl blossoms
like some anemone that war has
spared ON the stained aud trampled
battle field Of the epic.
The next canto IL the ASistcia Of
Wild Bill. We do not exactly make
out which side William took in the
great war for freedom. II is enough
for US to read:
We Eight W lid Bill, He comes this v.y,
That means he comes To murierous slay
Il means yell have the devil to pay.
This war ior's Indian levies like
The dusky troops of Memnon In | |.
QuiRtus Smyrnaeusl were better SOL |