The Abbeville messenger. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1884-1887, 1885-02-04
A Fragment.

And cheerless as tho desert rude;
Nor like nor lrvo dispenses light
To cheer affections solitude
The kindled feelings of my heart,
Which late have glowed with fervcnt heat,
Have ceased to yield to wonlan's art,
Or pay their homage at her feet.
o thou, who thus hast rudely reaped
The first ripe fruit Of loves fair field,
Who on my soul hast sorrows heapsd,
And every sympathy eongcalsd.
] would not have thee shed a tear,
Or e'er a pang of sorrow knows;
bay pleasure all thy pathway cheer,
Through this dull scene Of pain and woe.
Perhaps thou'lt yet love more sincere.
Thy heart IL yet warm and free
Perhaps loves thrilling words q gain thouIt
hear
Hut ns'er again from me.
Affections fount is turned to stons,
And ne'er again will flow,
Unless some Mosss-liks fair one
Shall deal a magic blow.
This, too, is ordinarily verse making,
and the 9Th stanza is crude in expression
and imperfect in rhythm.
If these are the best selections posi-.
ble, we must say that the literary proof
Is totally inadequate. Mr.. Oliver, if
adjudged to have written Cali Quiet"
made one lucky hit and had one geuine
inspiration of the muse. The rest is
silence" Neither poem, which we sub
Join, comes within n thousand miles of
AL Quiet Along the Potomac"
At the time I gave these poems to
Mr.. Randall l stated that they were
written by my father while yet a boy
abou nineteen years of age, were never
corrected by him, and not intended for
publication, the longer one existing in
his handwriting, only in pencil on the
hy leaf OF an Anthon's Latin lessons.
Can they prove, even allowing Mr.. RAN
daiPs severe c~riticim to be Just, that
their author, fourteen years after, under
the excitement too, Of the stirring times
OF 1851 and himself a private soldier al
the mouth Of the Potomac, could moi
have written "All Quot Along the 20.
m Z" But for those times and the
emotions excited by them in Mr.. Ran
dalrs breast where would DC "Nary.
land" my Maryland,'' the one. the roun.
datIon stone of James r. Randalrs poetic
fame
After emphasizing the indisputable
Tact that the poem was generally known
to the South AZ a waif and believed tt
ne OF Southern origin, and after giving
MS evidence. unprecedented and unc,
quivocal, that he wrote to his wife abou
the poem on October 3, 1861. rcfrrrin!
IN that letter to n similar one Of tie wcel
before; that he read it to his brother, DR.
Nm. W. Ashton, now Of Shreveport
La, to DR.. Charles ~I,ostic. now of Bnrk,
County, Ga, TO John II. Hudson, late O
Jefferson County. and 10 Mrs. Ashton
on arriving Mt home, and told them m,
father wrote it. Col. John u. Ashton
says: 81 submit that the poem itscl
furnishes almost positive internal evi
Aence OF having been written by n mar
r'ed man, upon the sacred memories O
homo and wife and children were GROVE,
ing as he wrote. Such a man was Mr.
Oliver. Mr.. Oliver, both by natu
raj gifts and careful culture, was full,
equal to such n production. X X From
Mr.. divers we'll known modesty
he would have been the very best MA
to publish the poem, if he published j
At oil, over his W signature"
Here are extracts from my father,
aotters to his wife, which show how
"thc sacred memories of home and wifi,
n children were crowding az he wrote
The letters are in my possession.
"BRuNswIoK, Ga. June 10Th. 1861,
cannot divest my mind of thoughts 0
home and it's inmates. I could sit pa.
tiently and answer all the ten thoussn,
questions Of that qncrulous and inquisi.
tive big faliow' / could cyen bear with
p'sssnre the adgety motions Of Hushdy,
and listen to all his artlass comn,unica
tons. All my affections seem to con.
eentrate on you and the children"
"R1oHhosD, Va, August 2lst, 1861
know thst you never received a lette,
from me in your life more anxiously
looked for and more acceptable than this
one. We have never in our lives been
separated SO far from each other, nor
surrounded by more embarrassing cir.
cumstahces. 1t seems strange to me tc
be thus situatad, and I feel hardly con-
sclous Of my own identity. / am lead.
ing a life so different from all my early
n youthful anticipations, that my con-
dition and situation in life are wholly
inexplicablo. Here I am, away from
those l love best and away from bust.
ness and interests that I know impera-
lively demand my attention, and only