The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1906-12-18

Er- l. Is. h|inCSDuTA.
| seemed poetic. but hose names arc
not now as familiar as household
words" | may vet insist that our b.
loved southland mas o nher roll OF
fame many writer's Of real poetic
gifts. and some Of rare poetic genius.
Let me recall the names of Poe, +. =.
Cook, Simmz, w. J. GraysOn, Richard
Henry Wilde. IoAn r. Thompson,
Paul II. Hayne, 4. i. Flash, Harry
Timrod and others among the departed
worthless. I am not 50 well yersed IN
the writers Of the last quarter Of d
century az to be able to select them
und~crstandingly for special mention.
1 purposeIy omit here North Carolina
poets. do not mention Fafhe,
Ryan. as he was Of irish birth, /
think. but he was indeed born q poet.
The North in the great wal and after,
failed to sUrpass some Of Ryan's most
tender and inspired ere.
Rv the way. has the reader eve:
read carefully the stout volume OF
Confederate Verse published and Sc
lccted by Miss Emily V. Mason, of Viz
ginia. soon after the war had ended"
| 1t is an engaging volume, rich in m
| spiratiOn and patriotic glow, with high
| hopes mingled with sorrow and ten
dcrness of love. 1t contains that pc
| CuIiar. appealing, stirring inspiration,
which a Just. glorious, humane, highly
patriotic cause gave to ne best
/ BtDtJI1 81 JIIE t0DblLIt- bAAo 80
grezsive and ~tyrannoGs North had
such holy and exalted Inspiration It
! has not been expressed in poetic form.
take il to be. Even the Old Abolition
gang could only strike harp and glVc
their old crOOningS, for they had neitl-
cr q just nor glorious cause to inspire
them afresh. The war poetry Of our
southland is far trucr II nobler and
purer than anything the %ravagins
North produced. In 1861, but two
-,,J affrT> 4ho wa I~-tnnkInC over
some of my own productions at THAI
time-I find that [ said uf this very
contrast In the productions Of the re
SpCctiVc sections, writing rs an editor:
I'VE thank u Heavenly Father that
he has VOuchSafed to some of our
people the high and peculiar art Of
writing poetry, and we take courage
in our new start III letters, thai,
though defeated IN the 'irreprcSSibIc
conflict bv the combined hundreds OF
thousands gathered from the cesspools
Of Europe ana America, that on the
fair field of poetry our knights Of the
Cavalier pen endorsed the grim drivers
of the Puritan quill
Mr.. Hill took scarcely any part in
this C0ntcst-thiS outpouring of the
heart in the g~ustful, most serious,
most destructive war times. His Muse
was asleep, it seems, awaiting, it may
have been, the time of reDoso when
the rude clash of hostile arms
l NEIE' tlil = EDlb t. VI
Modese Mantuan bards should sing
of war and Of some Dido's love. before
he sent forth his thoughts clothed II
the graceful draporE of poetic express
sion. am 50 Southern myself. so
true to North Carolina in which bless
cd state my infant eyes first bcheld
the sunlight, that | must be ready al
ways to hail any new singer Of i'll
spiration and merit from whatever
southern home he comes. whether
"iinnct-liI1c" he flies. lin the humble
VaIc,' or with the "stron@ eagle hc
sails along the EkieS": whether his
carolIinSS be among the "biuc-eycu
pimperncls and sweet violets." which
Nun-like hid themselves in 'unfrc-
Quentcd places where sun-heamS Can
not peep or like the great Italian
sonnetcer. Pctr&rch. pours GU his
heart in sweetest, sugafed sonnctS. or
with a greater poet. Milton, the
sublime. scars into i higher and puror
atmosphere OF thought. Specially does
my heart warm strongly when he
ONES with an odd familiar face" from
our own noble State. and mcdcstly
lays, without any blowing of trumpets.
his simple Offering at the shrine Of the
responsive Muse whom he WOrShips.
If, however. upon a friendly eXamina-
ton Of his productions. | should find
that he is an Intruder into the vern&l
meadS and seQuestered groves in
which the truly gifted are wont to
stroll: or that instead of drinking at
the real Castalian fount, he has been
only "imbibinS 4 few flat, insipiG
1raughtS from = WaYSide spring whose
waters never sparkle with the life Of
pOesy and song. [ shall in obedience L.
the demands of a literary conscience
quietly tell him 50, and give MIN the
same advice that was given TO a dis
tinguished, really gifted personal
friend of mine, when he was still =
minor, as he told me Of il full fifty
years g Rev. DIR. Charles T. Deems.
by q New York literary Macaenas.
Gaylord Clark. editor Of that old and
clever New York monthly. "Knicker-
b0Cker's Magazine:' Young man. take
to the measles. the W~hOoping cough
or the chills, but do not take to writ
Ing verse; And yet our friend had
some gifts in Verisification and wrote
n HYMN Of Sweetness and light"
and that is retained. [ am gratifed IT,
see, in the new "Methodist Hymnal."
a publication of high worth.
But all his I have written has n,
application, direct or otherwise. to nv
l departed friend, ThcOphiIus H. Hill
: | have not read muCh from his pen III
$ the last twenty years. but previously
5 | had several times read all the poems
t he had published in his volume of
verse, and | have found such nan
I festationS of lyrical excellence as 10
: give me assurance hat the genuine IN
9 SEPARATION Which all true poets have
: was not denied him. They show him
to have been a man of culture. and
with some poetic genius. 1t may b
true, as is the case. that there is CON
/ siderable inequality in the poems; IL
may be true that an Edgar Poe Nigh.
apply that keen. dreadful critical
! scalpel to some or many Of them. rs
| mercileSslv. if he so elected to do. as
he did when he lacerated LongfeIlew.
/ or when he subjected one William w.
{ Lord, to his cruel an~atomlzines: il
n may be true. that the pieces are shors
1 and OF a~Seeniin2 eyanescenceand some
tlmes fragmentary character: it may
Y be true that the judiciouS reader will