The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1912-01-18

VIII SuCu universal ldFOi ahS tie@S
been so eagerly sought for, at the
special request of many friends, we
republish. The Beautiful Snow
will bear reading every month in
the year. 1t has been pronounced
by the London Spectator to be the
finest American poem ever written.
This opinion We think is not far out
of the way. But here is the history
of The Beautiful Snow taken from
the Omaha Republican:
How many thousands have let their
tears fall over these lines, as their
touching pathos call into recollection
the sad story of other and similar
victims to mans wanton cruelty! In
point of smooth versifcation, easy
flowing rhythm, through which is al
most heard the plaintive wall OF Wo-
mans ruined honor, our knowledge
Of English literature brings to mind
no single poem of such thrilling SEN
timent as this.
We have lately seen an article float
ing the rounds of the press, purport-
ing to give the authorship of this
remarkable effort; but the writer of
the statement, who indulged his in
spiration 'amid the cool breezes of
Lake Erie,'' seems really to know
something of it's real history. The
writer gives Miss Dora Shaw; an
actress, and author of "Out in the
RAIN the credit as author of this
poem. This is a mistake. Dora Shaw
has written some pleasant lines, but
her brain never flashed that sparkling
Gem, t'The Beautiful Snow
In the early part of the war, one
dark Saturday night in the dead of
winter, there died in the Commercial
hospital in Cincinnati, a young Wo-
man, over whose head only two and
twenty summers had passed. She
had been once possessed of an
enviable share of beauty, and
had been, as she herself says,
"fattered and sought for the charms
of the face but alas! upon her fair
brow had long been written that ter
rible word-prostitute! Once the
pride of respectable parentage, her
first wrong step was the small begin
ming of the same old story over
again." which has been the only life
history of thousands. Highly educat-
ed and accomplished in manners, she
might have shone in the best of So
ciety. But the evil hour that proved
her ruin was the door from child
hood, and having spent young life
in disgrace and shame, the poor
friendless one died the melancholy
death of a broken-hearted outcast.
Among her personal effects was
found in manuscript 3'The Beautiful
Snow which was Immediately car
.ried to Enos B. Reed, a gentleman of
culture and literary tastes, who was
at that time editor of the National
Union. In the columns of that pa
per. on the morning of the day fol-
lowing the girls death, the poem ap-
peared in print for the first time.
When the paper containing the poem
came out on Sunday morning, the
body of the victim had not yet re-
ceived burial. The attention OF
Thomas Buchanan Read, one of the
first of American poets, was soon di-
rected to the newly-published lines,
who was so taken with their stirring
pathos that he Immediately followed
the corpse to it's final resting place.
Such are the plain facts concerning
her whose Beautiful Snow" shall
long be remembered as one of the
brightest gems in American litera-
ture.
The Beautiful Snow.
Oh! the snow. the beautiful snow,
Filling the sky and the earth below;
Over the house tops, over the street,
Over the heads of the people you
meet,
Dancing,
Flirting,
Swimming along;
Beautiful snow! 1t can do nothing
wrong;
Flying to kiss a fair lady's cheek,
Clinging to lips in frolicsome freak,
Beautiful snow from the heavens
above,
Pure as an angel, gentle as love!
Oh, the snow, the beautiful snow,
How the flakes gather and laugh as
they go
Whirling about in their maddening
fun
1t plays in it's glee with every one
Chasing,
Laughing,
Hurrying by;
It lights on the face and it sparkles
the eye,
And the dogs with bark and a
bound,
Snap at the crystals that eddy
around
The town is alive and its heart in a
glow,
To welcome the coming of beautiful
snow!
How wildly the crowd goes swaying
along,
Hailing each other with humor and
song!
How the gay sledges like meteors
fash by,
Bright for the moment; then lost to
the eye
Ringing,
Swinging,
Dancing they go,
Over the crust of the beautiful snow;
Snow so pure when it falls from the
sky,
To be trampled in mud by the crowd
rushing by,
tn ho tramnled and tracked nv the