The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1885-01-28
Not Conclusive.

In Maj. LAMAR FoNTAISE's letter
to the Nelc NississiPpian, printed else
where, some additional evidence is
offered to prove that the beautiful poem
"All Quiet Along the Potomac is of
Southern and not Of Northern origin
in fact that Maj. FoNTAINE is the
author of the poem. This evidence
consists of stanza called by Maj. FoN-
TAME "a verse" which has not hereto
fore been published; and the particular
feature of this stanza which is relied on
to prove the Southern origin of the
poem is the allusion contained in it to
the ''orange bloom" that the picket"
twined in the braided hair" of his love;
it being contended by Maj. FoNTAINE
that the South alone, being the home of
the orange, it would have been more
natural for the lady who claims to be
the author of the poem to have twined
some Northern fl, wer in 'Mary's" hair.
Maj. FoNTAINE is not forgetful of the
fact that the ''orange wreath is the
crown of the bride in the North as in
the South, but he undertakes to meet
this difficulty, by saying that the "orange
wreath of the North is generally arti-
fetal and bears the trademark of the
maker, while that of the South bears
upon its breath the trademark of the
Great Creator To this suggestion it
may we'll be replied that the ivy, the
cypress, the laurel, the acacia and the
orange wreath or flowers, have en-
blematical meanings attached to their
use, and it matters not by whom they
are used, these meanings are well under
stood. The crown is an emblem of
royalty, but a poem which should in
clude the word Grown" used emble-
matically might be written on the soil
of this great republic without giving
serious offense to the loyal, or even
attracting much attention. We might
give many examples of our meaning
did We think it necessary, but we will
pass from the "orange .bloom" to some
thing else, with the suggestion that a
scot on the mountain" and "the home of
the orange" cannot we'll form>part of the
same picture in fact or in fancy.
Our esteemed contemporary, the Vicks.
burg Post, in we'll written article calls
attention to the great dissimilarity in
construction and meter, between the
added stanza and those which have
heretofore been considered as constitut.
ing the poem in its entirety. 1t partic-
ularly calls attention to the ending
of the second and fourth lines of the
added stanza as compared with the Sec
ond and fourth lines of the original
poem. : Picket 'thicket,' battle rat
tle,' dreaming cleaning creeping,
sleeping fountain, mountain ten.
DER defend her. Spoken broken,
'welling,' swelling weary 'dreary,
flashing 'splashing,' river forever
are ending words of the second and
fourth lines OF the old poem," says the
Post, "and it will be observed that they
are perfect in meter, accentuation and
rhyme" This cannot be said of might
air" and braided hair
1t does not require that person shall
be literary critic to enable him to see
that the added stanza is vastly inferior
to the old poem. This it seems to us
viii be the concurring opinion of all
readers. And believing that it will add
nothing to the claims of Maj. FoxTAINE
to being the author of the poem, we
regret that it has been published. We
think that the common opinion concern
ing the stanza even among those who
accord to Maj. FoNTAINE all that he
claims, is that he did exactly right when
he .'expurged" the stanza and that he
did exactly wrong when he gave rea-
son for so doing.