Worcester morning daily spy., 1898-02-20
R11ss cARMANs NEW BOOK.
d4rom New York Evening POST.


kept in the background and discour-
aged. has suddenly become possessed OF
two gold mines-in her Klondike range
4 and in her poets? We called attention
long since to the prominence rapidly pc
ing assumed by Mr.. Carman, MI Rob
erts and Mr.. Campbell among the writ
ers of this continent, and the little
books called Ballads of Lost Heaven; A
Rock of the Sea OamSon) has in some
degree restored to Mr., Carman the lead
ership which he seemed to nave rlSked
by dallying too long amid Bohemlan
bowers 1t is a hundred pages OF salt
sea, without a trace of Kipling, anG yet
having a sea flavor as unmistakao4e as
his. and with a finer touch--With less
of repetition, less Of mere technlcality
and more varied human interest 1t has
withal a quality Of grace which is sure
ly legitimate, when we consider tnat tne
sea itself, which is the strongest thing
on this planet is also the most grace
full A single poem like The Master OF
the Scud in this volume is, at any rate,
enough to make reputation, and no
one who has ever sailed IN coastlnS
schooner or ever watched mackerel
fleet into Gloucester harbor on the edge
of gale can help being thrilled by the
strong movement Of the poem we quote:
There is a Nor1and laddie who sails the
round sea-rim, s1eD
And Malyn of the mountains is all the
world to him.
The master of the Snowflake bound
upward from the line, EcG
He smothers her with canvas along the
crumbling brine;
He crowds her till she buries and Shud-
ders from his hand,
For In the angry sunset the watch has
sighted land;
And he will brook no gainsay who goes
to meet his bride,
But their will is the winds wifi who
traffic on the tide.
Make home, my bonnie schooneri The
sun goes down to light
The gusty crimson Wind-halls against
the wedding night.
She gathers up the distance, and grows,
and veers, and swings,
; Like any homing swallow with night
fall in her wings,
The winds white sources glimmer with
shining gusts of rain;
And in the Ardise country the spring
comes back again.
The dusk is long and gracious, and far
: up in the sky
t You hear the chimney swallows tWitter
and scuTry by,
The hyacinths are lonesome and white
: in Malyn's room;
. And out at sea the Snowflake is driving
through the gloom.
The whitecaps froth and freshen; in
squadrons of white surge
: They thunder on to ruin and smoke
along the verge
The lift is black above them, the sea is
mirk below,
3 And down the worlds wide border they
4 perish as they go.
,. They comb and seethe and founder, they
mount and glimmer and fee,
= Amid the awful sobbing and quailing Of
the sea.
They sheet the flying schooner in foam
from cgfea1 10 ssTa
+ TIL every yard of canvas is drenched
! from clew to earn,
; And where they move uneasy chill is
9 the light and pale;
a They are the shippers daughters, who
dance before the gale,
j. They love the Norland sailor who dares
t the rough sea play;
: Their arms are white and splendid to
a beckon him away.
They promise flim for kisses a moment
at their lips, o..
Y To make before the morning the port of
missing ships
: Where men put in for shelter and
t dreams put forth again,
S And the great sea winds follow the jour
: ney of the rain.
t. A bridal with no morrow, no yelling of
old tears,
> For him, and no more tidings Of the de-
parted years!
For there of old We're fashioned the
/ chambers cold and dim,
/ In the eternal silence below the twi-
C lights rim.
y The borders Of that country are SUM
e berous and wide;
And they are well who marry the fon-
dlers of the tide
Within their arms immortal, no mortal
d fear can be:
But Malyn Of the mountains is fairer
, than the sea,
Il And so the scudding Snowflake flies with
IS the wind astern,
And through the boding twilight are
blown the shrilling tern.
The light is on the headland, the harbor
gate is wide;
But rolling in with ruin the fog is on the
tide.
e Fate like a muffled steersman sails with
: that Norland gloom;
:, The Snowflake in the offing is neck and
Il neck with doom.
: Ha, ha, my saucy cruiser crowd up your
= helm and run!
5 There'u be a merry-malzng tomorrow
in the sun,
A cloud of straining canvas a. roar of
breaking foam,
The Snowflake and the sea drift are
racing in for home.
Her heart is dancing shoreward. but
S silently and pale
The swift, relentless phantom is hunger
ing on her trail
k They scour and fly together until across
the roar
:, He signals for a pilot-and Death puts
out from shore,
: A moment Malyns window is cleaning
e in the lee,
5 And then-the ghost of wreckage upon
the iron sea.
| And there when daybreak yellows along
i the far sea plain
The fresh and buoyant morning comes
down the wind again.
d The world is glad of April, the gulls are
g wild with glee,
V And Malyn on the headland alone looks
h out to sea.
d Once more that gray sGipmaster smiles,
e for the night is done,
Y And all his snow-white daughters are
). dancing in tn sun.
d We do not wish to take too great a
# liberty with Mr.. Carman by counting
him in among American poets, after his
e announcing himself, through an. inter-
Fl view in Black and White, about a year
ago, as an intense impeIialist"; but as
+ he has, so to speak, furled his sails and
come to anchor il the peaceful harbor
of Scituate, Mass, he must take the
h consequences It is a great pity that
d some arbitration treaty could not settle
for us the question of literary donicie
j. Why, for instance, should we habitualHy
Y claim as American through the acct
" dent of his birth, Mr. James, VINO prob
It ably could not find his way about New
Tlpaf Ja,str