The Washington herald., 1907-12-08

\ draught Of water from The spring
An apple from a waysdc tree.
\ bin Of bread for strenEthening
a pipe Tor g1ece and policy
And 50. hy taking time 20 fnd
world that mainly 10 ones mind;
Some health some wit IN friends a fcE
some high bChayiouTs in their kind.
some DISPOSITIONS TO be true.
! The first poem in this volume is The
\ Captive" a dialogue between an Afghan
king and captive: picturesque enough
bat hardly greatly poetic. The best parts
Of the poem are the interpolated lyrics.
as. for instance, that one sung by the
dancing girls;
50 dear thou art,
| The SEED that thou has planted in the mould
And fertile fallow q ny heart
4 Hath borne thousand-fod.
So dear thou art.
Sweet love Wild love.
Love win I SOW and love wiz rap
And where the golden harvest bends above
There viii I fnd sleep.
Sweet love child love.
Throughout the book the best poems.
those that ring truest- are the love poems.
for in these the fancy is gentle and ten
( der and appeals most TO the sympathies
The Return is one Of the best Of these.
/ have. hone. though palmer bound
! For hoy lands. pine foT IL.
know II shtltcring walls around
The hearth and lamp that shine for H.
The door apart;
shall return on windward seas
By blue shores of nlyria
To ind Il fliod with melodies
From Eden. beyond syria
Il is gOur heart
There is little in '-Harps Hung Up in
I Babylon that speaks Of Mr. Cotton AT
/ his best. but il Is a little sheaf OF verse.
I very pleasant usually correct. and be
yopd technical criticism. II is not verse
that viii have wide appeal (New York.
Henry Holt & Coz
The Ivory Gate" is the latest volume
of verse by Armistead c. Gordon. one Of
! the best known Of Virginia's minor poets.
He first attracted attention through col
/ liberation with Mr.. Thomas Nelson Page
in ~BefO' the War" Mr. GOrdon's muse
has visited him but seldom over long
course Of years and. as might be ex-
fpected the verses are uneven in power.
Sometimes he falls into a vein Ike that OF
Ella Wheeler Wilcox. al others attempts
and the attempts are Il-descriptive verse
N
rings true when he is al his best as in
the dedication.
Oniy yoa can stir once more
Pulses that ms boyhood knew
OUgn wide the bolted deer
/ Ouly you
Lead the lost hours dancing through
SIaces where IN days Of yaEV
Ross bio0med and skies were blse.
Grm the gay years s7oE. and frore
Cleans the fros; where shone the dew.
Nausht those lost hours Iaay restore.
Ouly ycu.
Let me dream the old dreams o-cr.
Love Is kind and faith Is trie
seeing with youths eyes once more
Only you.
There are a number Of poems Of affec.
tation such as All. 81 Jeusesse Savait
and The judgment Of Paris" and Ger.
tainly the poet has added nothing L,
beauty or knowledge in mis- "Guinevere t
Eancelot:" it is hardly the classical ides
that Guineverc should cry:
Come. Lancclot; come. and rain tbs hot uuicl
As In old dsys. on eyes and mouth and chin.
Mine be the sin Of all thy mad caresscS-
The stain the shame. the sin
Doubtless there are many friends of Mr.
Gordon who VIII be glad 10 see his verse.
collected under the title The Ivory
Gate" but it is hardly likely that IN,
general public viii pay largely for admis
sion through these portals. CSew Yorl
and Washington: The NeaIe Company
'Sprigs Of Poetry is the punning title
of massive book Of verse BY Mr Norris
g Spriggs, whose picture adorns IN,
frontispiece OF the book. In case q re-
viewer does not care to read an thi.
poetry the publishers include notice Of
the book which tells Us that il comprise.
in all over 800 tive hundred count them.
poems:
Forcible and characteristic IN style and afIordin;
the most delightful reading. Thoroughly vide awak
and fralght with spirit and animation thr0ughosi.
Zach and every enc Of the respective s,ibject
amounting to many pen pictures briefly and ye
50 fcryiby portrayed as 20 fasciuate even the mos
casual vadcr and revive hum IN spirits 81
Some OF these poems might ccrtaipl,
affect a man so that il would be neces
sary 70 revive him in spirits. Here j.
one:
4 STORMY DAY
love the rgor Of the storm.
DOES more good than may know.
80 much more benefit than harm
Or wind rain snOW.
. !
! love TIN rCCklcgs IiguF
When you come m t0 NY homc
Ms mulAer on. figure.
or take his wonderful pen picture" O
the buffalo:
Framework and coupling
No pattern In cutting
, SuFly Snd mcOd-
Unshapey Will al.
Buffalo burly
Short neck and curly
BTufer than anything
Destined 10 fan
practically extinc;.l
} This shows above everything else m,
power of Mr.. Spriggs. Who but he could
for lack of a better word. invent "bruf
Z fer" How expressive. how forceful. how
eloquent. The same strength OF mind l.
, displayed in Mr.. Spriggs' fine cOntemp
{ for rhyme. II the words don't rhym
that Is not his fault. What he is afte
Is 10 express his meaning. and neithe
rymth nor rhyme are allowed to stand il
his way. To write verse in this fashion
, is 70 show true genius We have spac
only TO quote one more OF Mr. SDriggs
pOemS-that mysterious ineIucfsb bIe sO7,l