The Portland daily press., 1892-04-16

Deering's Woods" for himself-those
woods in which the gentle poet played
when a child, and which he has en-
baln1ed in one of the most exquisite of
his poems.
1t is the privilege of the poet to thus
secure Immortality to some spot dear to
his heart, and to make the name of that
unseen region household word even in
distant lands. The steep brow Of the
mighty Hellvellyn will ever be feature
in the minds landscape beside the Dowie
Dens O. Yarrow and the Banks O. Doom.
How many pilgrimages have Scott and
Burns caused to view the ruins of Mel
rose or of Alloway's Auld Haunted Kirks
fs not all Scotland pictured to us in the
ringing verse of Scott, till every loch and
glen are dear to us. and Ben Nevis and
Ben Lomond, Stirling Castle and it's
winding river, twined in links of silver
light, ARE as familiar to our Imagination
as the New England coast?
The khine-the poetical watchword of
two nations-what wreaths of verse and
legend hallow its hills and yinevardsi
y
flood, is a clear vision to the man who
never hopes to see the ''City of the Sour'
while the peaks and streams of ancient
unseen countries live for us in the un-
dying strains of the bards who have sung
them, till Scamander and Simois, Olym-
pus and the distant Caucasus, Avernus
and the Stygian Groto, even the lone Cor
asmian shore, have realty to our minds
that no geography or history could i'm
part, and dwell forever in our memories,
embalmed in one sweet sonorous line.
What Washington Irving has done for
the Hudson, what Whittier and Emerson
have done for Monadnock and Chocorua,
Longfellow has done for Portland-his
native citY-and for its pleasant woods
Forever in his verse will linger ''the
beautiful town that is seated by the sea-
whilewe
can see the shadowy lines of its trees,
And catch in sudden CLEANS
The sheen of the far-suTrounding seas
Andislands that were the Hesperides
IN all my boylsh dreams.
Nor is it merely poetic license to call
the chief city of Maine beautiful: for
whether approached by sea OF land it has
an impressive aspect, girt about, as it is
with waters, and overshadowed by fine
Elms. Yet its full beauty cannot be felt
until you explore the high peninsula on
which it stands, really an island, since a
bridge is its connection with the main
land, and see the continual rise from the
encircling bay to the lofty centre, with
shady streets ever climbing or descend
ing hills, while from the high upper win
doWs of many houses, far-away views of
sea or mountain gladden. the dweller in
that favored town.
For some reason had falsely fancied
that Deering's Woodswe to be found
somewhere upon those heights
o'erlooking the tranquil bay,
where sleep the dead sailors who fell in
the famous sea-fght between the Shan
non and the Chesapeake in the war Of
1872; SO that it was with surprise dis
covered the old grove in valley near the
water, hard beset by screaming engines
and partly belted by iron rails. was
disappointed, too, in the extent of this
classic ground; for, though there are
slxty-six acres in the city reservation, not
all of it is covered with trees, and some
OF it is in rough, unfinished condition.
The woods which were presented by
the Deering family to the town in 1915
cover space about as large as Boston
Common, and consist almost entirely Of
Oaks, venerable with age and russell with
the touch Of autumn when [ saw them.
Drives wind in and out among the an
tique trees, under which, the turf is fresh
and green. The underbfush is all cleared
away, and in the centre is natural pond
OF pleasing contours, which is beautiful
feature OF this easily accessible pleasure
ground.
1t is to be hoped that the city will ac-
quire certain slope beyond the railroad
cut, which could easily be bridged over
to connect it with the grounds; and l un-
derstand that more land contiguous is
soon to be purchased to give greater i'm
portance to the proportions of the little
park-for park the local newspapers per
sist in calling it, though far more prefer
able and hallowed is the homely name Of
Deering's woods, given to it by the poet,
or that other appellation by which it is
still known to Portland boys-Deerine's
Oaks. 1t is neither large nor imposing
enough TO be properly called park, and
the old name fits it perfectly, while it
seems TO me that somewhere about it's
gates might be engraved the quotation
from the weil-known poem, which makes
it classic ground:
And Deerng's Woods are fresh and fair.
And with joy that is almost pain,
NY neart goes back to wonder there,
And among the scenes Of the DAYS that were
find my lost youth again.
And And That strange and beautiful song
The groves are repeating 1t still
"A boys Will is the winds will
And the thoughts Of youth are long, long
thoughts"
So associated is her poet son with the
city of his birth, that, as one walks un-
der the overarching trees, tits pleasant to
come upon Ir. Simmons seated statue
of Longfellow. at the shaded junction of
several avenues, looking down ''those
well-known streets" which he as sweetly
commentaries in his verse as :'the black
wharves and the slips" the ''bulwarks
by the Shore" and that
breezy dome of groves
which was the occasion Of my pilgrim
age to the dear old town, which cherishcs
his memory by preserving the spot he SO
highly honored with the undying tribute
Of song, as aperpetual playground for its
Even more important as breathing
space to the sea-girt city is the fine sys-
TEN of promenades with which she has
crowned her heights-wide, smooth.
drive-ways, from which the harbor is
grandly commanded. Here on the east
ern promenade You skirt ancient earth
works and come out upon the esplanade
where 0rc the r1lins of Fart C,,,,,o,,