The Portland daily press., 1888-04-24

being written mostly in major key. When
it becomes elegiac or sombre, the intention is
so evidently artistic that the sadder verse
merely supplies the relative minor to the
more vigorous and cheerful chords 1t is no
| small virtue to combine such natural and
healthy sentiment with so delicate and ca
priclous lyric gift as this of Danske Dan
bridge. Her muss is sylph-like, creature
of air and fire that catches and interprets
| the most ETHEREAL and mysterious utterances
of nature and her children. A perfect exam
pie of this peculiar quality, elfn, elusive.
and wholly lyric, occurs in The Spirit and
The Wood Sparrow. A spirit of the air has
dropped to earth from cloud of snow and
| for awhile
| Because OF beauty freshly made
Could only smile;
| Then grew the smiling to song
And as he sang he played
Upon moonDeam-Wired cithOle
Shaped like a soul.
There was no ear
Or lar or near,
Save one small sparrow of the wood
That song to hear.
This in bosky tree
Heard all, and understood
AS much as a small sparrow could
By sympathy.
The lyric Pegasus is pure poetry, of a free
and imaginative quality that exhilrates the
mind. The Red Bird is delightfully."- gay and
sympathetic. Twilight in the Woods is per-
feet in atmosphere, as it describes the vesper
hour of Nature, the murmured litany of the
trees preluding the sermon of the tranquil
thrush"
Fit preacher for these solitudes
Benignant hermit of the woods.
This recalls Mr.. Whittier's lines,
The muezzin of the darkened thicket
hear the night-thrush call to prayer,
which occur in one of his most noble and ten
der poems, What the Heart of the Traveller
said at Sunset.
Silence, An Idle Dream and To Memory
are imaginative and tuneful The Chry-
santhemum is charming fairy-tale. To
My Cnmrade Tree is a serious and strong
poem, which proves that this new singer
does not lack range of voice. The Hermit
Knight is distinct attempt at grim and
grisly verse, and is done as we'll as might be
expected from Ariel masquerading as COB
lin. The Dead Morn is somewhat gloomy,
but is very much better poetry The An
gels Song contains some exquisite lines.
On the whole one finds in Danske Dan
bridges first volume much delicate music,
purely poetic imagination. and unstrained
voice. One would say that Keats was her
chosen master; but there is also an ndivid-
ual qaulity of note, clear and spontaneous as
of forest bird. There is no doubt that
Danske cambridge osborn poet, and that
her talent will develope naturally and fully.
New York: G. p. Putnam's Sons; Port
land: Loring, Short &Harmon)
Agatha Page, the new novel by Mr. Isaac
Henderson, author of The Prelate, is a
strong story which repays the reading The
theme is that, never Outworn, of the loving
faith of good woman; and the plot which
conveys this theme is striking and original.
The characters afford variety, and are well
indicated, not in the most modern fashion of
realism, but with sufficient naturalness to
render them thoroughly interesting. The
scene is laid in various parts of Italy; and
the picturesque beauty of the district of
Branza, near Lake Como, is artistically de-
seribed. Yet the social atmosphere of the
novel is not Italian-it is Boston under other
skies. Agatha Page herself is by birth only
half italian, so-while her affectionate and
faithful heart might belong to either nation
her manner Of thought and conversation
may be permitted to remain American. Mr..
Peter Dow is Yankee of the Yankees, and
the anthor shows evident relief when writing
of this worthy compatriot. The hero and
his sister, the Duchess, and her husband, are
delightful personages, more or less Italian
in general character, while their modesof ex-
preston are purely cis-Atlantic The little
Gaeta-heroine of gracefully indicated
minor romance-is charming child, but by
M Tfo1;o H. t.
excitable, pert, bewitching in her grlish ca
prices miniature belle of New York, or per-
haps Boston-but quite different from the re-
ceived type of little Italian madens, expect
ed to be serious, modest and docile. 1t is
true these young girls sometimes do great
deal of thinking, but they are supposed to
have OF express few ideas of their own The
perfect Identification with the spirit of ma
tive Italian society which may be admired,
for shining example, in the Roman Singer |
of Mr.. Marion Crawford, would have rem
dered Agatha Page genuinely great novel. |
Meanwhile Mr.. Henderson has depicted OK
tremely well the scenery, the customs, the |
mode of life-in brief that which can readily |
be remarked by an intelligent foreigner in |
Italy. And since he has succeeded in writ |
lIlB IOulducc VI luuCu lOICb anu luLbT6St,
the majority Of readers will be little dis |
turbed by the points above noted; but will |
observe with keen sympathy the fortunes of |
Agatha and her husband, the subtle and will |
full moods of the brilliant Mercede, the pa |
trician gentleness Of the Duke land Duchess, |
the modest strength Of the young Calabrian |
pianist and the eccentric, but attractive, |
Mr.. Peter Dow. 1t is a novel of exceptional |
strength and absorbing interest; the reader |
would have cause to complain of the abrupt |
ending did not this very incompletion hold |
out the hope of sequel. Boston: Ticknor |
& Co.; Portland: Loring, Short & Harmony |
Hannah Jane-the heroine of Mr.. Locke's |
petroleum V. Nasby) homely ballad, must |
be considerably astonished to find herself |
dressed in cloth of gold by the generosity of |
Messrs. Lee and Shepard. She deserves it, |
this good woman, as the reader will admit |
who has followed the feeling and simple |
verse of her story. Mr. Locke's metrical
work is not subject to criticism according to |
the canons of poetic art; but it is, in this in
stance, to be praised for warmhearted and |
rightmnded comment upon not unusual |
case in American society," where a husband /
largely owes his advancement and prosperity |
to the faithfuness of wife who, in her toll
for him, has found no time to keep pace with |
his mental and social progress Hannah |
James husband had the good sense to per-
ceiyes the situation, land celebrate his prosaic /
good wife in verse, which is hardly poetry, |
but is genuine contribution to the literature
of the American people. The illustrations
are good, andsthe volume attractive in all |