The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1899-11-18

watcning tnnt MIS-. msoe was strioksn
s M.sn Of sss July, altar er..s pAy.o si
suffering che mystic Rates were thrown
open 70 her and she went
"from dark to light from strife
To perfect peace. from death 70 hfe."
Mrs. Maoe was oQmmunioant ut the
Episcopal church. She 10 survived BY
her husband, ALWAYS her admirer and
lover" and three children. Arthur Il.
Mace IL connected with the Great Western
railroad, and his home 10 In st. Paul
The only daughter, Mrs. Nav Lyndon,
herself a suooenful writer OF short stories,
lives In Los Gates, Cal. The youngest,
Louis, is u praotioing physician In the
same city. The following sonnet adj
dressed TO his mother betokens share Of
his mothers gift;
"As one all through the weary night has
lain
And watched the lowering shad ows deep
ar grow
And the dark silent tide Of hours flow
That Knocks him as he longs for rest In
But when the morning comes, then once
again
He fesis his hopes return. his pulses glow
And with his staff In hand 10 glad to 60
Upon bis way, forgetting all his pain:
So Love, perhaps, when this sad life OF
And heavy arie, at last has passsi away
In joy Of strength divine, with happy
And Iightsome hearts we shall resume
our way.
While In the sunlight of returning day.
We shall forget We said the night is
A pleasant anecdote 10 related of Whit.
tier. On his first meeting With Mrs.
Mace he said. "In Bangor l know but
two persons. Hon. Hannibal Hamlin
and thee. l know him for his states
manship, and know thee for thy beauti-
full poetry"
From the early age OF twelve Mrs.
Mace's poems constantly appeared IN
print. 1he New York Journal OF Com.
msroe was one of the first to recognize
their beauty and merit. From 1870 to
1850 Harper illustrated many of her pub
umes, Lyrics and Legends. and Pines
and Palms. From an appreciative arti-
ole In the Boston Globe by Caroline Dana
Howe CLEAN the following: "She WIS
very modest In her estimation OF herself.
yet s,metlmss she felt that the popular
hymn Only Waiting was given undue
prominence, and to her husband she once
said; Il may ~ well never have written
any thing else, all seems to go for nothing
In com parison with that ons song Her
husband replied, That poem is sure to
live. Frances. Yes. she replied
makes its own is better than volumes Of
fine writing"
Mrs Mace was but girl of eighteen,
and We think student in Waterville
Academy, at the writing Of this poem.
A girl friend. now the wife Of Prof. Mar
den of Colorado Springs college. calling
upon her one day remarked that she had
Brought her subject. very old
man." she said, "in the aims houss.
having been asked what he was doing
now replied, only waiting" The
friend proposed her writing q poem upon
this theme. Mis-. Mace Immediately re-
tired to her small study and In little
time had oomplstsd the stanzss as they
now appear. Under the signature Of
Inez the poem was published iu the
Watsrvills Mail In 1854. 1t was immedi-
ately copied far sand wide. A nameless
collections OF poetry and was sat to music.
Inquiries for its authorship became con-
slant and one and another laid claim to 1t.
Al last James Msrtineau, the eminent
English author, made q thorough inyesti-
CATION md 1t was traced to. Mrs. Mace
and her authorship became fully estab-
lish ed. ~.
We find but few personalities In Mrs.
Aace's published poems. Doubtless
when sorrow sssailed her she gave vent to
her grief in verse. but her readers are
r ~ou pshs'' She leads as inso broader
grander fields than mere personalities,
and you feel the grandeur Of her inner
life, her real life. You feel this loftines
especially in her sonnets, OF which there
are forty or more. The sonnet to Long
fellow, beginning:
beautiful spirit, art thou hed,'
Ia full OF this feeling. In the Oscillation"
she gives the key note to her own beauti-
full life when she says:
"Most solitary, this Is thy complaint
Then teach thy brooding spirit to forsAke
Self contemplation
In the little gem "whyp In the sour
Witns IS 81" and In 1.-THE Answer" writ
tan on the prayers of the people that the
life OF Garfield be spared, this tine passage
occurs:
"The Lord made answer. He indeed
shall live,'
Then lifted him among those orbs on
high
Who have outlived the mystery of life.
All, now we know, though earth had
much to give
For him 1t was moro glorious to die"
Her legends are SO wildly told that
they are not dead words. We hear the
voices calling, and In "The Heart of
Kstahdin" we see the 1.-the form Of the
maiden "trsmulous with quick breath
ing" as she stands smiling upon her
lover; or Us In the Legend Of MoossheAd
Lake" We listen for the swift still steps
Of Kineo."
But to us In nothing is Mrs. Mace SO
delightful as in herr poems OF nature.
Nature does not move Der to awe, but TO
fellowship and love. She Is alive to her
moods and sees In her not only sublimity
and beauty. but JOY, gladness, harmony.
10 her nature 10 never tarren or desolats,
but she allures her by an endless array Of
attractions, and Mrs. Mace 10 most happy
In graphically unfolding the charms for
her readers.
In one Of the poems OF that most de-
lightful series entitled enid summer On
Mount Desert" she calls, "Would you
feed upon. tbs strength Of the hillsJ" Your
soul responds. for you feel the genuine
rapture OF The writer and you are uplift-
ed by it. In the poem .'lhs Wide Wild
Woods of Maine" we drink OF the wine
"That poured from balsamic boughs
"Of fir and trees and pines"
In the "Indian Summer"