The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1893-01-18
the picturesque in nature and human

fOtIOCdl iCS1!uS, Will uiioooe'i f'SoA Va
thought and character, Mrs. Preston is
better known by her three later vol
umes: Cartoons from the Life of the
Ola Masters, the Life of Legends, and
the Life of To-day - "For Loves
Sake" a volume of religious verse; and
Colonial Ballads" No lover of art
can afford to be ignorant of her Gar
toons from the Old Masters'-giving
as they do such picturesque glimpses Of
them in studio and chapel-nor of her
"Childhood of the Old Masters" in her
latest book, for Mrs. Preston has g
wide range in art.
Her ballads are stirring; her religious
poems show faith so pure, so ar
dent, so elevating that they are at
once prayer and benediction; while
of her sonnets an English writer has
said: "They show great richness and
variety of mental culture and vigorous
aud original treatment. and knowl-
edge of her work would have made
Leigh Hunt happy" In this depart
mert she has no American colnpeer,
unless it be Helen Hunt Jackson. Or
her ballads she herself says: "One
would think I was a regular daughter
of the Puritans, when truth to tell /
have not drop Of Puritan blood in
my veins"
Many of her shorter poems are fa-
miliar through the newspapers though
often published without her name,
''Nunc .Dimittis," ," "By-and-By," 'tIn-
as-Much," "Comforted," "Calling the
Angels In," "Before DEATH" but not
"Alpenglow," which will bring both
smiles and tears to those who have
ever seen such light upon a loved
face-though it shines not for them
now.
Her Sonnets on Emerson, Haw-
throne, and Longfellow and Browning
are of the best-and there is nothing
finer Natures Threnody." Her dirge
for Paul Hayne, her loved and life long
friend
ga murmur sad as from off mufled
bells,
Goes family soughing through. the
shimmering pines,''
and the poem written for the Edgar
Allen Poe celebration in New York are
worthy of high place.
The little book published by Ran
dolph-a reprint from Harpers-
"Aunt Dorothy" is story partly in
dialect. The plantation described re-
longed to her sister and the sketch is
an absolute photograph of the old Vir-
ginia life.
ga Handful of Monographs" is a
volume of travel sketches abroad, not
at all in the usual vein, and most de-
lightful reading both to those who
have been, and those who hope to 60
over the ocean: Her srticle on Stone
wall Jackson, her brother-in-law, in
Century in 1886 won high praise both
here and in England; and her apostro-
phe to Washington in the Centennial
Ode for Washington and Lee Univer-
sity is fine.
"That name, which like the sun,
Loses no light by all it rests upon,
Which gloriGes with gorgeous Alpen
glow
Mount Blanc's stark SUBMITS Of
eternal snow,
Yetgilds the crocus b. b')ssoming below"
This imperfect sketch of Mrs Preston
can best be closed in her own words:
"One day as I was signing over the
fast falling leaves my gay-hearted
young niece said to me-'Oh, but
think how mach more room it gives
you to see the beautiful blue SKY be-
yondr and is it not sweet thought,
that as our little joys and pleasures,
and earth's many lovely things fade
and pass, they open spaces for US
through which we may look into the
illimitable depths above Us. To those
vino mourn lost treasures, earth is sad,
but then how many happy homes and
happy hearts there are in it after all,
and it becomes US to say with our dear
Elizabeth Browning
Through dearth and death
Through fire and frost,
With emptied arm and treasure lost,
We praise Thee while the days go on" !"
SOPHIA 3. GILMAN.