Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1890-10-24
The Birth of the Elm.

A LEGEND.
"One warm summers day fairy fell asleep un-
der golden rod 1t sheltered her ndfanned her
so gently with its blossoms that she awoke much
being so kind it should be changed into the most
graceful tree that the world had ever seen.
Touching it with her wand, in q moment beau
Unpublished Manuscript.
The golden rod waves its yellow hair,
Feathery and light in the evening air,
And q wearied fairy beneath the shade
OF its sheltering flowers her couch had made.
She had sped in haste over sea and land
For thousands of leagues at her queens COM
She had come from the islands of far Cathay
Since the break Of dawn on that summers day
and al, IN naa wressed gem from the darksome mine
"a maid who was blest by the FAIRIES at birth
10 be fairest and brightest and best upon earth,
To grace her birthday at sweet sixteen.j
In a mountain cavern Of far Cathay,
For ages hid from the light of day,
That precious gem had been guarded well
By Gnome band and a secret spell.
They had guarded it well, for they knew its
To shield its wearer in dangers hour
From the beasts of the forest, from evil sprite,
From the witchs charm and the serpent's bite;
And sharp was the conflict, and hard the toll,
Ere the fairy had gained the hidden spoil
And sweet was the well-earned rest she won;
The night wore on, and the shadows crept
over the hills while the fairy slept
Inc COlu moon SllSteQeQ, tne dew da1npS 1eu.
But the flowers of the golden rod guarded her
we'll:
And at last when the moon in its beauty broke,
Refreshed and blithesome the fairy awoke.
She looked with love at the summer sky,
At the fieecy clouds that were drifting by;
At the grass which waved in the morning breeze
But beyond all else in sky or sod
She looked with love at the golden rod.
She praised the grace of its waving plume,
She praised the wealth of its golden bloom,
And its stem that rose like a slender reed
But, oh the pity, twas only a weed.
The maid whom the fairies loved so well,
Whom they guarded from harm with their magic
Walked forth, as it chanced, in the self-same
hour
| When the fairy still hovered around the flower,
| And she marked the grace of its feathery plume
And T She said with With sig sigh. Ii is fair indeed,
| But the pity, the pity, its only weed.
i 1t seemed like an echo the fairy heard,
| OF her own soft sigh and her pitying word,
And she thought how the kind, protecting flower
Had guarded her sleep through the midnight
hour,
| It should never again be called a weed.
So she touched with her wand its slender stem
And the flowers of its golden diadem,
When swifter than vision of midnight dream
The sap rolled up in a sudden stream
| Like some throbbing life.blood new and strange
That wrought as Il flowed q mighty change,
| For the stem grew large till IL came to be
The stately trunk OF noble tree,
| Clothed with rich yerdure and branching wide.
/ As 1t stood alone in its power and pride.
Yet still the golden rods form was seen
| In the richer grac. of the newborn queen,
And the glancing sunbeams had given each fold
| OF her emerald robe its fringe Of gold.
1 Thus first into being and beauty came
The grandest tree that the world can claim
SeT Eng,ands elm S ,hs na;I 10y ana me p'de
With strength that can breast the widest storm
Il With the golden rods light and graceful form.
| With the feathery plume that We love 10 see.
Il weed transformed TO a noble tIee.
i The maiden gazed with glad surprise
i At the vision that rose to her wondering eyes,
And she blessed the fairy. she blessed the earth
For the glorious gift of that noble births
Il And In after years when beneath the shade
OF the sheltering elm her children played,
She told them the tale OF the gentle weed
And the rich reward OF n kindly deed.
| J. R. ".