LOCAL AND NATIONAL POETS OF AMERICA. CHARLES W. HILLS. BORN: MAYFIELD, OHIO, JULY 30, 1840. MANY of the poems of Mr. Hills have appeared in the New Eclectic Magazine, and have been very favorably received by press and public. Mr. Hills is now a resident of Washington, D. C., where he is well known and highly respected as a scholar and a gentleman. STATUARY. Half to the ear, half to the eye, The sculptor's marble forms belong; The severed bud, the broken vase, But shattered at the top, The lamb at rest, the angel white, And dirges turned to shape. But art arrests a truant tone Within her charmed halls astray, And turns it into stone. BROTHERS. I walked abroad at eventide, With brothers twain, to view the sea: One climbed the cliffs with haughty stride, One trod the sands with me. The duller wight o'ertops the crowd, Ah! slow to hail the princely-born, Burns low at eventide. THEY CAME NO MORE. A lordly castle fair to see! The sloping beams of early suns Illume its chambers royally; Hard by, a tranquil river runs, In shadow, to the sea. Long years ago, ere moss and rime And storm had blackened roof and walls, A maid abode within those halls, In woman's dreamy wooing-time. The maiden's birth was half divine: Her sire had walked among the stars; The king, long heir of names and wars, Could boast no higher line. And troops of suitors from afar, To whom this thing was told, Some clad in vestments silken, rare, And some in shining gold, Came, singing, to the radiant gates,- Made answer as the wooers came,- Withdrew with humbled pride; But now, when winter hours are long, Unmated, hopeless, desolate, The faded damsel rules her own, And, scowling, by the castle gate The baffled warder sits alone. This legend shows in stone: 511 ..When strangers knock give prompt response, Unbar the door; For guests forbade to enter once Return no more." LOCAL AND NATIONAL POETS OF AMERICA. JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY. I BORN: GREENFIELD, IND., 1854. MR. RILEY in his youth led rather a wandering life-traveling from place to place as a sign writer, sometimes simulating blindness in order to attract custom. He thus acquired a knowledge of men. For some time he performed in a theatrical troupe. In 1875 he began to contribute to the local papers verses in the JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY. western dialect, which he found more popular than serious poetry. He afterward found regular employment on the Indianapolis Journal, and in that newspaper many of his poems have appeared from time to time. The collected works of James Whitcomb Riley are Old Swimmin' Hole and 'Leven More Poems, Boss Girl and Other Sketches, and in 1887 appeared Afterwhiles, and Character Sketches and Poems. The narrative of his poems and sketches are connected with prose, thus making them stand out more boldly, and also giving more life thereto. The name of James Whitcomb Riley as a great poet has become especially prominent the last few years, his poems having been extensively quoted from, in the journalistic press throughout the country; and in consequence, his works have met with great success. IN BOHEMIA. 513 Ha! My Dear! I'm back again- Paint your bits of shine and rain; I write rhymes that ring as clear Puff my pipe, and stroke my hair- At you, mutely mooning there O'er your Aprils" and your.. Mays!" Dimples of your cheek and chin, And the golden atmosphere Of your paintings, Kate, my dear! Trying! Yes, at times it is, To clink happy rhymes, and fling On the canvas scenes of bliss, When we are half famishing! When your jersey" rips in spots, And your hat's "forget-me-nots" Have grown touled, old and sereIt is trying, Kate, my dear! But-as sure--some picture sells, And-sometimes-the poetryBless us! How the parrot yells His acclaims at you and me! How we revel then in scenes Even now I cross your palm, With this great round world of gold? "Talking wild?" Perhaps I amThen, this little five-year-old! Call it anything you will, I may kiss away that tear Ere it drowns me, Kate, my dear. ARTHUR CLEVELAND COXE. BORN: MENDHAM, N. J., MAY 10, 1818. MR COXE has devoted his life to christianity, and is now Second Bishop of western New York, a position he has held since 1865. This gentleman has made various valuable contributions to theological iearning, biblical criticism, and church literature. He published several volumes of poems before receiving ordination. In 1877 appeared the well known poem The Ladye Chase. Christian Ballads, his best known volume of poems, appeared in 1845, and became so popular that it was reprinted in England in 1850, EASTER MADRIGAL. MARY AND SALOME. Daughters of Jerusalem, Gentle Gard'ner, even so, What we seek thou seem'st to know. Holy women: this the spot. MAGDALENE. Yes, my name is Magdalene: GARDENER. Yes, the mountains skipped like rams; WOMEN. Magdalene hath seen and heard! MAGDALENE. Come, the stone is rolled away; Seek not here the Christ," he said; "Seek not life among the dead." EDITH MATILDA THOMAS. BORN: CHATHAM, OHIO, AUG. 12, 1854. EDITH was educated at the Geneva normal institute of her native state. She has contributed largely to periodicals, and has published in book form A New Year's Masque and Other Poems, The Round Year in 1886, and in 1887 Lyrics and Sonnets. THE FOUNTAINS OF THE RAIN. And often in the sea they cast a seine, Is in their arms uptaken from the plain; HOMESICK. This were a miracle, if it could be! With yonder star (so curves the earth between,, I'd say: My friend doth fnom his casement lean, And charge Canopus, by his pilot-gleams, green. |