The herald., 1898-05-08
BOOKS AND THEIR MAKERS

the lode to the American Flag" as they
have recalled those remarkable lines. They
have thought of Halleck, too. who, coming
from brakes funeral, sat down and wrote
the simple and sweet tribute which has be-
come as famous as his dead friends own
lines:
Green be the turf above thee,
Friend of my better days!"
A strange mixture of seriousness and
fancy was Drake, who did so little, and
who died so young-only twentyfive-and
who at his death besought his friend De-
Kay to burn his poems rather than publish
them. OF himself he wrote these lines:
"a comcal mixture, half bad and half good,
Who has SKINNED over all things. and
naught understood;
Too dull to be witty, too wild to be grave,
Too poor to be honest, too proud for a
knave--
In short, mere chaos, without form or
rule,
Who approaches to all things, but nearest
a fool.'
And yet this was he whose name two
poems have made immortal-the "Ode' and
'"The Culprit Fay"
o 0 O
THE SLOPES OF HELICON AND
OTHER POEMS. By Lloyd Mifflin
Illustrated with ten full-page illustra-
tions by T. Moran, N. A., and Others
and a portrait of the author from re-
cent photograph. Price s1.25. Estes
& Lauriat, Boston.
Mr.. Mifflin, who has here given us grand
variety Of verse, will be remembered by
our readers as the author of that rare vol
ume of sonnets, "At the Gates of Song
which was distinctive triumph, indeed, the
most difficult form OF English verse. A word
about the book itself ought to be SAID, for
it is one of the daintiest volumes of the
year, with unique gold design on the
cover, a cluster of the American laurel.
The deep, quiet tone of the poets life and
purpose may well be guessed from the lines
on Blight"
Happy are they, who, loving lovely things.
Each new day loves them more;
Whose tranquil spirits bear no restive
wings
Who dwell, but never soar"
One of the sweetest pastorals is "Fare-
we'll, Ye Fields"
Alas! to drink no more the crystal spring.
rock,
Nor see the blackbird with his scarlet wing,
Poise to entice me on the bending dock
Nor see the elder, blossoming still in June.
Whiten the brookside with it's drift of snow,
Nor scan the hilltop till the crescent moon
Hangs her golden sickle on the orchard
bough.
Nor mark the slant sun tip the tosselled
corn
When dawn's flushed cheek grows paler in
the sky;
Nor watch the wind-a breath of summer
morn
Roll the green pillows DER the seas of rye
Oh! never again to rest beside the shores,
To hail the binders when their toll is DONE
Nor on the grain load, brushed by apple
leaves,
Ride down the long lane at the set of SUM-
These peaceful wales no more shall know
my feet;
Some later poet here shall tune his lay;
And still the winds will move the fields of
wheat,
And still will float the odor from the
hay!
Some Of these lines have great beauty,
like, for instance:
"Nor mark the slant sun tip the tasesled
corn"
But the best of Mr. Mifins work is still
the sonnet, as witness the one entitled
THE SEASONS ,
"In youth, thought that April, azure
dressed,
Was queen of all the year. her blue eyes
beaming
With earliest love-with passionate glances
cleaning.
Later, found in all my errant quest
Nothing SO sweet as June; next loved I
best
The rich late summer, with her harvests
teeming,
Throned on her slopes of gold; then fell
dreaming
And worshiped Autumn on her misty
crest;
But now the sweetest days seem dull De-
cember's,
For in the darkness of my twilight room
peer into the hearth-fire and the embers
And see fair visions rising through the
gloom
All! dearer than all else the heart remem-
bers
Faces of those beloved when in their
bloom"
We have thus called attention to this
volume and given these extracts, for we
feel that a new writer has arisen who has
the genius that alone justifies venturing
upon verse.
THE VALLEY PATH. By Will Allen
Dromgoole, author of '"The Heart of
Old Hickory" 1.-THE Farriers Dog and
His Fellow" etc. Price, $1.25. Estes
& Lauriat, Boston.
Here Is very handsomely printed vol
ume, gilt tops and in all ways attractive.
Miss Dromgoole's previous efforts have
ELECTED much praise, and she has already
been accorded place among new south
ern writer's of promise. She is a loyal Ten
nesseean and apparently knows the inner
most life of her people.
The plan of the story is well laid, the
characters are we'll chosen and the materi-
al is promising, but there is one grave
fault throughout. So intense Is the au-
thor's desire to be real that she accords to
at least two Of her characters bluntness
that is unpleasantly and unnecessarily
coarse. For instance, DR.. Boring is a very