The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1885-10-24
Sna''s~ 4" literature and Bi's''p'p.
An Original WING Feature.
EMMA ALICE BROWNE.

EMMA ALICE BROWNE.
1t would be strange if there could not
he found one among the pleasant group
of faces that look down upon my desk
from the walls of THEWHIG office one just
as worthy commemoration in these col
umns as the little bust of Robert Burns,
of which | wrote several weeks ago. Yes,
here is one, sure enough. A beautiful
face, too, in some ways. For the sincere
little woman, who used to bring her little
''eflusioI $" occasionally to the Hon.
Palmer G. Ricketts, when the chair now
occupy used to be honored by him in the
capacity of chieftan over the spicy col
umns of TIE WING, and the wicked,
wicked typos" up above. was beautiful
in many ways. A fair, mild face, spark
ling with intellectually, staunch,
graceful figure, every movement Of which
+ denoted the presence Of some peculiar
power, and voice and conversational
abilities of rare sweetness and eloquenca,
such creature was Emma Alice
Browne, the poetess, when she paid Elk
ton frequent visits and charmed the
readers of The WING with her tender
and touching poems. How she may ap-
pear in person now that the SHOWS of
more than fifty years have drifted over
all her HAIR and the cares Of a busy,
struggling, thoughtful life have furrowed
her brows with wrinkles, l dare not say,
but her calm and gentle face that glances
down from its nook on the wall upon my
paper recalls very vivid memories of the
une4ualled melodies that used to burst
from her when youth and it's thousad
Joyful fancies were hers and she alb
sorbed the beauty and inspiration of our
Maryland landscapes as she wandered
through the hills of Cecil county and
along the borders of the majestic Sus-
quehanna. The peculiar charm of the
country becam me assimilated with the pc
culiar charm of her poetry, and what she
has written of late years still retains
tokens of that power of lyric sweetness
gained from the natural features of the
lands she inhabited during the period of
her mental growth.
Among her sisters in the striking gal
axy of Southern song birds formed by
Amelia Welby, Miss Whittlesy and Mrs.
Kidder, Emma Alice Browne has long
stood first. The qualities of these minor
poetesses have never risen beyond the
ballad and lyric period, yet in the poems
of Emma Alice Browne may frequently
be found strains of pure epical range.
For example, "a Thunder Storm on the
Susquehanna," that beautiful Ode to
dead brother.and father. and MANY we'll
remembered poems of similar power, are
graced with all the sublimity and depth
of thought, purity of language and per
lection of measure required for the pro-
ductiou of such masterpieces as EVAN
geline, p" ''Snow Bouud,' or Tine pin
cess" To the character of the minor
poetess Emma Alice Browne has loaned
a strength it did not possess until she
beoan the enforcement of such exquiSit
lyrics and ballads as have united her
name forever with the age in which she
lived and wrote. The place of the minor
poet or pOeteSs, author or authoress in
the literature of a country is Indeed sig
nticant. The bug!e notes of the great
masters, like Shakespeare, or Byron. or
Tennyson, needs that relief loaned by
the lyrlst and ballad singer, just as the
foreground figure of large painting
MAIDS nIi 1inbt, nd oh 20,
reveal it's depth and beauty in subdued
and not glaring moods. Tue chatf which
the mighty bard passes by without heed
ing the poet of an humber lay gathers
and weaves within his medley; thus is
every subject provided put into practical
use. Besides, there is an infinite num-
Der who read poetry who care not for the
solemn tranquil strains of Milton and
Wordsworth, but who devour with curl
GUS eagerness the efforts of Bret llarte
or Carleton. Therefore, to the art of
poetry and to the admirers and patrons
of that art in America the minor poet or
poetess is peculiarly essential. And it is
seldom the case that singer of this
quality approaches SO nearly the highest
ideals as has Emma Alice Browne. A
tone OF Jean lngelow's quality is appar
ent every where throughout her work. |
the same WON ms feelings ha, stirred
in the breasts of both, and the same di
vine cholds of melody seem to dwell in
the entonation of their songs. Give |
Emma Alice Browne the scholarship and |
classical attributes of her sisters who |
occupy higher inches simply because
of those qualities, and she would not to-
day be simply contributor to the col |
umns of the New York Ledger. If ever |
a pOetess were born such, Emma Alice |
Browne was. From her earliest child.
hood days at her birthplace near Mount |
Pleasant, Cecil county, Mary land, she |
has been daughter of the gods. From
the moment of writing her first poem,
which was done with a nail upon the
bottom of a pan, she was imbued with
the poets grace and aptitude. What |
she has written since that day has been
as if transcribed from the tremulous
chords of heart played upon alternately |
by grief and gladness. Like every strug-
CLING, ambitious, earnest and determined |
woman in the field of literature, she has |
borne many crosses. And yet. like her
brother singer of the far Sierra's, has |
thought
=" 1t is we'll maybe so, to bear losses
To bend and bow down to the rod
II the scarlet red bars and the crosses
BE but rounds up the ladder to God
A systematsed collection of the poems
of Emma Alice Browne has never been
made, although many of her finer idly llic |
outbursts have gained worthier place
in the af1ectionale regrad of the students
of Southern song than many of those
found in volumes whose gilded edges
and nrnamented covers constitute their
entire streng h and beauty. From her
rugged Western home in Danville, Ill
the Emma Alice Browne of to day still
sends forth her pure and perfect poems