LUCY LARCOM. LUCY LARCOM, an American poet, was born at Beverly, Mass., in 1824; died at Boston, April 17, 1893. She began to write. stories and verses at the age of seven; and while working in a cotton-mill at Lowell, a few years later, she became known as a contributor to the Lowell Offering. She studied and taught school for some time in Illinois, and then became a teacher in the seminary at Norton, Mass. Her name was familiar during the War as a writer of patriotic verses. Our Young Folks was founded in 1864; and Miss Larcom was one of its editors until 1874, after which she resided in her native town. Her works include "Ships in the Mist, and Other Stories" (1859); "Poems" (1868); “An Idyl of Work" (1875); "Childhood Songs" (1875); "Wild Roses of Cape Ann" (1880). In 1884 she issued a complete collection of her "Poetical Works;" and she was the editor of several collections of poetry. Her later publications were "Beckonings for Every Day" (1886); “A New England Girlhood" (1889); "Easter Gleams" (1890); "At the Beautiful Gate" (1891); "The Unseen Friend" (1892). HANNAH BINDING SHOES.1 POOR lone Hannah, Sitting at the window, binding shoes! Sitting, stitching, in a mournful muse! Hannah's at the window, binding shoes. Not a neighbor Passing nod or answer will refuse To her whisper, "Is there from the fishers any news?" Night and morning Hannah's at the window, binding shoes. 1 By permission of Houghton, Mifflin & Co. Fair young Hannah, Ben, the sunburnt fisher, gayly wooes; For a willing heart and hand he sues. And the waves are laughing so! Hannah leaves her window and her shoes. May is passing: Mid the apple-boughs a pigeon cooes. For the mild south wester mischief brews. Hannah's at the window, binding shoes. 'Tis November. Now no tear her wasted cheek bedews. Not a sail returning will she lose, Hannah's at the window, binding shoes. Twenty winters Bleach and tear the ragged shore she views, Twenty seasons; Never one has brought her any news. Still her dim eyes silently Chase the white sail o'er the sea: Hopeless, faithful, Hannah's at the window, binding shoes. EMMA LAZARUS. EMMA LAZARUS, a Hebrew-American poet, born at New York, July 22, 1849; died there. Nov. 19, 1887. The outbreak of the Civil War brought out her poetic gift at the age of eleven; and very early she began to publish her poems in Lippincott's Magazine. In 1866 she issued her first volume of "Poems and Translations"; and in 1871 a second collection, entitled " Admetus and Other Poems." A prose work entitled "Alide" appeared in 1 74. From this time she contributed many translations from Heine, and numerous original poems, to Scribner's Magazine; and the former were collected and published in 1881 as "Poems and Ballads of Heine," and the latter the year following as Songs of a Semite." For the same magazine she also wrote some striking essays in behalf of her race; and in 1882, she elaborated, in the American Hebrew, her successful system of technical education for the suffering Jews. Her last works included" In Exile," "The Crowing of the Red Cock," "The Banner of the Jew," and a series of prose poems. 66 GIFTS. "O WORLD-GOD, give me wealth!" the Egyptian cried. Palace and pyramid; the brimming tide Of lavish Nile washed all his land with gold. Armies of slaves toiled ant-wise at his feet, World-circling traffic roared through mart and street; His priests were gods; his spice-balmed kings enshrined Set death at naught in rock-ribbed charnels deep. Seek Pharaoh's race to-day, and ye shall find Rust and the moth, silence and dusty sleep. "O World-God, give me beauty!" cried the Greek. Plastic and vocal to his sense; each peak, Each grove, each stream, quick with Promethean flame, Of diamond-pointed thought and golden tongue, Go seek the sunshine race, ye find to-day A broken column and a lute unstrung. ་ "O World-God, give me power!" the Roman cried. His prayer was granted. The vast world was chained A captive to the chariot of his pride; The blood of myriad provinces was drained To feed that fierce, insatiable red heart. Invulnerably bulwarked every part With serried legions and with close-meshed code, Within, the burrowing worm had gnawed its home; A roofless ruin stands where once abode The imperial race of everlasting Rome. "O Godhead, give me truth!" the Hebrew cried. His prayer was granted: he became the slave Of the I ea, a pilgrim far and wide, Cursed, hated, spurned, and scourged with none to save. The Pharaohs knew him; and when Greece beheld, His wisdom wore the hoary crown of eld. Beauty he hath forsworn, and wealth and power. Seek him to-day, and find in every land; No fire consumes him, neither floods devour: Immortal through the lamp within his hand. WILLIAM EDWARD HARTPOLE LECKY. WILLIAM EDWARD HARTPOLE LECKY, a distinguished British historian, born near Dublin, March 26, 1838. He was graduated at Trinity College, Dublin, in 1859, and in 1861 published anonymously "Leaders of Public Opinion in Ireland," of which a new edition with his name appeared in 1872. After some time spent in travel, he settled in London, and gave his attention to historical and philosophical studies. His "History of the Rise and Influence of the Spirit of Rationalism in Europe" (1865) attracted great attention. In 1886 he became an opponent of Home Rule. His "History of European Morals from Augustus to Charlemagne " (1869) was of equal merit. Other works were "A History of England in the Eighteenth Century" (1878 and 1892); "Poems" (1891); "Political Value of History" (1893); "Democracy and Liberty" (1896). A lecture on "The Influence of the Imagination in History" was subsequently delivered before the Royal Institution. SYSTEMATIC CHARITY AS A MORAL OUTGROWTH, PAST AND PRESENT. THE history of charity presents so few salient features, so little that can strike the imagination or arrest the attention, that it is usually almost wholly neglected by historians; and it is easy to conceive what inadequate notions of our existing charities could be gleaned from the casual allusions in plays or poems, in political histories or court memoirs. There can, however, be no question that neither in practice nor in theory, neither in the institutions that were founded nor in the place that was assigned to it in the scale of duties, did charity in antiquity occupy a position at all comparable to that which it has obtained by Christianity. Nearly all relief was a State measure, dictated much more by policy than by benevolence; and the habit of selling young children, the innumerable expositions, the readiness of the poor to enroll themselves as gladiators, and the frequent famines, show how large was the measure of unrelieved distress. A very few pagan examples of charity have indeed descended to us. VOL. XIII. — 22 |