The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1886-07-15
From the Window Reporter.
Consolation,
A BOOK OF POEJlS BY 4 MINNESOTA


A BOOK OF P0E1ls BY 4 MINNESOTA
POET:
"Consolation is the title of little
volume OF poems by our esteemed
friend and co-laborer, A. p. Miller,
editor of the Worthington Advance.
The volume was received some weeks
ago, and ought to have had an earlier
acknowledgment and introduction to
the readers of the Reporter, but we
have waited to become more familiar
with its Immortal song" before at
tempting even 4 brief review. In his
introductory Bro. Miller says:
Poetry is its own excuse for being,
4
A glory and a comfort to the world.
And while it draws forth the "spark
Of immortal song,' we hardly know
whether to attribute to the writer Of
song any greater degree OF humanity
or divinity than ordinary morta!s pos.
sess Ella Wheeler says:
Our songs are shells cast out by waves of tho':;
You've seen beneath the surface Of the waves,
Where lie our shipwrecks and our coral caves.
Thus. while poetry is a glory and a
comfort' to the reader, he can scarce
ly tell what emotions lie Gin the soml
from whence it springs" So, in read
ing it our rule has been to judge Of the
authors soul from the impressions his
verse has upon the mind, rather than
from personal acquaintance. Then let
us look at Bro. Miiler's poems. In his
introduction he speaks OF his poems as
Dear Children OF the Heort! go forth and meet
Bravcly Your fate in hiscordant world.
We love our own. illfavored though they seem
sC<><1 <1ns<,
That many hearts will love YOU. 'vis the fate
OF all immortal things to be beloved
There is q sniemnity in this that
meets a responsive echo in the mind of
him who has tried to brave the fate OF
a world Of discord and found u realiZa-
tion of it's truth. 1t Sings in verse Il
sentiment dear to every one in times of
despondency. 1t is u sentiment that
enters into true poetry, but we do not
see ''beneath the surface of the waves"
or know the source that inspired it.
We then must say that the poets
mind found ''consolation' in tho midst
of turmoil in the thought thus framed
into verse.
After describing a storm IN the day
time, when the clouds have dissipatpd
and night comes with the grandeur
displayed by the unseen Ruler, the
poet says:
But in the night, when men have time to gaze,
God draws the curtain, and His heaven displays {!
Far off 4 light shoots down the azure wall,
<AS though All angel let a star lamp fallD
While the great starry highway built through
space,
Runs up, rerchance, to Gods own bright abode
In the Sky's centre. for so rich is God,
| He builds the very highwayto to his throne,
OF worlds more grand and costly than our own,
OF Love, he says:
How shall speak of hat which dealt the blow:
Yet Love itself shall he the cure of Love.
And heal All wounds in earth aud heaven above.
Keep faith in Love, the cure OF every curse
| he strange, sweet wonder OF the universe!
Those who know Mr.. Miller and
have read his paper in years past. have
formed III opinion, sometimes, adverse
ly to him on religion. Bat what is
there in the following to whicl, the
honest heart, enquiring after truth,
cannot subscribe:
Yes, beauteors faith, indeed 4 fifth draw
From Humau Reason and Eternal Law.
| Aud not from man-made crtedS Ot long ago,
Conrvrd by men whose min ds were crude and
@. loving God of Nature who, through ali.
| las never get betrayed me to y fail.
While. following crtels of Men, went astray,
Ana IN ulSlrhSSlnT n.aLrS lOSC my way:
| l:ut turning back to Thee, fonnd Thee true,
| And sweet as woman's love and fresh rs dew!
I!cnccfor,h on Thee, and Thee aon" rest,
Nor warning sectS shall tear me- from thy breast.
While others doubt ANA wrangie O'cr their
1rest ssin'iih IN Thee and setisiy my needs.
Roll Ion o.: o xo"-wAceea Years: and bring
When Christian women shall not wire their feet
U31n their fallen L! Sisters ste in the street
| And each sl Ill make his nelghbors wrong his
own.
BE gone! Hate and Wrong and War, be gone:
| Roll on this way, U Golden Age. roll on!
| When Men and Angels face to face shall talk.
And Earth and Heaven arm in arm shall walk
| When Love shall reign. and over sea and shore.
The peace OF God shall rest for evermorc:
In the poem Of Life we read:
Who stoops and lifts 4 fallen one,
| His own soul lifted up shall find.
Who clothes aud feeds a brother man,
| And brings warm blood to faces wan,
Shall find. his own soul clothed and fed,
And heaven dawn III him, rosy red.
The sentiment herein is sweet and
can only appeal to the better nature of
man, but we do not fancy the closing
line. "And heaven dawn in him, rosy
red" The last two words seem to be
thrown in to "fill up" 80 to speak-to
make u rhyme without conveying a
sense worthy of the sublimity of the
preceding lines. There are, however,
few such "breaks," but in the poet s
mind there may be ''secret thought
which he does not "speak unto the lis.
tening crowd.'' Thus he speaks OF
mans Immortality:
There is 4 life beyond, else life on earth
And Hope are given a dying soul to mock:
|
worth.
If on Obiivions sea we strike Deaths awfu
rock:
another" is the subject of one of the
sweetest lays in the volume. Who car
read it without a thought of the faith
fulness of mother?-
But we learned it at last, and we learned i
| with tears,
That She lonscd to be there with the lord o
| her heart;
And for us she remained through the heart
For we stood in the door ard she could no
depart.
and then revert to Florence Percy's
backward, turn backward, Oh Time
come back from that echoless shore,
ETC., and we have what seems to u:
some of the finest diction in our Ian
guage. Enough. We can't do justic.
to our 'poet friend' in a review O.
this length. but we would ask those
who would like to study him closer tt
send 81 los to A. p. Miller, Worthing
ton. Minn., and possess a volume. Il
is gem in literature.
RAILROAD NEWS.
The ADVANCE recently pablished ar
article from the Des N[Oines Register