Nothing could be more thoroughly satisfying than the
impression he left in this brief and solitary interview.
His air and movement revealed the same manly, brave,
true-hearted, warm-hearted man that is imaged in his
books. Grateful are we for the privilege of having
seen, spoken with, and taken by the hand the author
of “The Pathfinder” and “The Pilot”:
“it is a pleasure to have seen a great man.”
Distinctly through the gathering mists of years do
his face and form rise up before the mind’s eye:
an image of manly self-reliance, of frank courage,
of generous impulse; a frank friend, an open enemy;
a man whom many misunderstood, but whom no one could
understand without honoring and loving.
* * * *
*
I know how, through the golden hours
When summer sunlight floods
the deep,
The fairest stars of all the heaven
Climb up, unseen, the effulgent
steep.
Orion girds him with a flame;
And, king-like, from the eastward
seas,
Comes Aldebaran, with his train
Of Hyades and Pleiades.
In far meridian pride, the Twins
Build, side by side, their
luminous thrones;
And Sirius and Procyon pour
A splendor that the day disowns.
And stately Leo, undismayed,
With fiery footstep tracks
the Sun,
To plunge adown the western blaze,
Sublimely lost in glories
won.
I know, if I were called to keep
Pale morning watch with Grief
and Pain,
Mine eyes should see their gathering might
Rise grandly through the gloom
again.
And when the Winter Solstice holds
In his diminished path the
Sun,—
When hope, and growth, and joy are o’er,
And all our harvesting is
done,—
When, stricken, like our mortal Life,
Darkened and chill, the Year
lays down
The summer beauty that she wore,
Her summer stars of Harp and
Crown,—
Thick trooping with their golden tread
They come, as nightfall fills
the sky,
Those strong and solemn sentinels,
To hold their mightier watch
on high.
Ah, who shall shrink from dark and cold,
Or fear the sad and shortening
days,
Since God doth only so unfold
The wider glory to his gaze?
Since loyal Truth, and holy Trust,
And kingly Strength defying
Pain,
Stern Courage, and sure Brotherhood
Are born from out the depths
again?
Dear Country of our love and pride!
So is thy stormy winter given!
So, through the terrors that betide,
Look up, and hail thy kindling
heaven!
* * * *
*
LOVE AND SKATES.
IN TWO PARTS.
