The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1883-10-10
whispering Pines.

Hf~iHfNiuk vs. u - "11b
Heur Boner. New York, Brentsno Rro>
+ ne linen PAPER. with pale srcen cover
Of thick paper. Pr. l61- Price IS
cents.
Il is our belief that North Caroliua hss
a. much poeticAl talent as any Southern
State. Only recently the Messenger As
sisted in heraldinx the praises OF one who
years ago won fame on q few divine songs
but who resting for q time on his laureis
seemed careless of growth 10 the worlds
estimation To Mr.. Hills sweet Pas
sion Flower succeed 10 public attention
the rich tones OF Mr.. Roner's Whisper
ing Pines
John Henry Boner, a native and for
some years after his majority 3 resident
of old Salem, Is 4 tall, handsome man Of
perhaps forty years, who plesses By his
manners quite a much as he Instructs BY
his practicul wisdom. With the poets
brow and the distingue air of the httera-
reur, there Is the sober eye OF mar OF
affairs. Mr.. Bone; dresses aud converse.
we'll, but goes little into general society.
tie Is, however. of social disposition. HIS
engagements as an employee of the Gov
eminent accounts for his not being one of
the Federal Capital, where, nevertheless.
he is highly esteemed for his genius and
and social qualities.
SO much, personally, by way Of preface
to what We wish TO say OF Whispering
Pines
These poems-sixty five in number
aud covering l67 pages ~duodecimo- IN
GLIDING many old iavorites, such as
Christmas Eve in the Country ""Home
from Camp-Meeting,' The Moon Low
ed Land" Song of the Old Mill Wheel
aud the dialect piece erasmus Times is
Come as well as a number OF new
acquaintances whom we are glad to greet
The first named poem appeared, We think.
during the war it then bore the titie.
Under the Snow" Mr., Boner states
that he has changed it, TO adapt it TO
another scene. As we remember it,
Under the snow was one OF the
sweetest, freshest, most graceful poems
of its class, and We regret that it was not
inserted as originally written.
The proemial entitled ''Tesselle" are
a worthy portal of 80 fine a temple. Ex-
cept his narrative poem, with which the
book concludes. the most ambitious and
the most successful piece IN the collec-
ton, is ''Moonrise in the Pines" 1t has
| LII VI TIC uItdUuy ulUSp htit vi hCdtS
and Hayne, with much of their classic
spirit in modern manner. Ii is a cuitur
ed inspiration, but abounds 10 delightful
easlness, SO To speak, of thought and
praseology. Not even Hayne has caught
more subtle the tints of a Southern twi
light and evening and the peculiar action
OF the pines 10 y Southern forest. Thus
The sultry day is ending,
The clouds are fading away,
Orange with purple is blending
Add purple is turping TO gray
The gray grows darker and denser
Till it and the earth are one:
A star swings u like a censor,
And the brief warm night is begun,
The brown moth floats and poises
Like a leaf in the MINDLESS air,
Aroused by insect voices
The glay toad leaves his lair;
Sounding the dusk depth quickly
The bnll-bats fail and rise.
And out OF the rrasses thickIy
Swan glistenlng fire flies"
The next two stanzas are rarely beauti-
full, but we are obliged to proceed
\ 4
And the slumbrous night grows late,
The midnight hush is deep
Under the pines | wait
For the moon aid the pine trees
weep
Great drops of dew, that fall
Like footsteps here and there,
And they sadly whisper and call
To each other high in the air.
They rustic and whisper like ghosts,
They sigh like souls In pain,
Like the movement Of stealihy hosts
They surge, and are silent again,
The midnight hush is deep,
But the pines the spirits distrest-
They move In s~omnainbulant sleep
The whisper aud are not at rest.
And the light grows brighter and higher
I'LL far through the trees | see
The rim of a globe Of fire:
That rolls through the darkness to me,
And the isles Of the forest CLEAN
With a splendor unearthl,, that shines
Like the light of a lurid dream
Through the color naded pines"
If any Southern poet since Poe has
written finer verse than this, we have not
read it