92 



THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 



Fragrant as the balmy odor of the forest in n 

 Junesiiiximer before the sun has penetrated with 

 Ills morn. ng rays, sweet as the chanting of the 

 feathered tribe "whose music is emblematical of 

 the great truth that Nature acts in perfect harmo- 

 ny grateful as is kindness in man towards his 



fellow man evinced in the charity which feeds 

 the hungry and clothes the naked — is the evi- 

 dence of high intellect. The ])oetry of "E. D." 

 which first came to us more than two j'ears ago 

 with no other evidence of its author than the 

 beautiful female hand in which it was written, 

 was not admired by us alone — it was reprinted 

 iu many of the periodicals of the day, and was 

 praised wherever it was read. The stranger lady, 

 on the receipt of the first and second number of 

 the Visitor, then held out to us the following kind 

 and encouraging language : 



" Would it" but afford you a momentary gratifi- 

 cation, I should be happy to inform you, that not 

 only your patrons in this vicinity are highly grat- 

 ified with a perusal of the specimen numbers, 

 but the intelligent, ami in lunny instances well 

 educated females of tlieir fniMilies are highly in- 

 terested with the introiliictioii of this new and in- 

 teresting Visitor, and look forward with pleasing 

 anticipatiotis to this welcome guest as a source of 

 useful inlormation to themselves and families. 



" Afler all (she continues) say what you will of 

 the allurements of wealth, the ap|ilause of men, 

 or the excitement of competition, the most potent 

 spell operating upon the mind of man, and stimulat- 

 ing to good and noble exertion, is a spell woven in 

 the sanctuary of home. Let a man go forth from 

 a scene of domestic disorder and discontent, 

 though the sun sliinu ever so brightly, or the 

 dews of heaven l:ill vwr «) grateful, the heart of 

 that man will Imi ill ;,,iur(l with the harmony of 

 nature, lie will In, ill i nay so express it, "as one 

 who labors withuiii Ikiim-,'" like the mariner who 

 finds himself on the broad sea, with a leaky, ill- 

 conditioned crafl, where time and energies are 

 consumed in vainly striving lo remedy vexatious 

 disorders. But that man, whose home is the the- 

 atre of order and nsefiilness, whose household 

 motto is "judicious enuiomy in expenditure" (the 

 true key-stone of the Fanner's wealth) whose bo- 

 som friend is tlie faithful treasurer of his purse, jire- 

 seiUs a striking and happy contrast to the foregoing. 

 Every effort ivithin will be a new incentive to action 

 and energy without, and prosperity the sure result of 

 order, harmony and coticert." 



Now that the authorof the foregoing sentiment 

 is known, not only as gifted with attainments of 

 a high order improved and polished by education, 

 but as occupying the position of a plain farmer's 

 w ife making no pretensions to superiority over her 

 miassuming neighbor.*, her advice may be taken 

 by the fair daughters of New England as of great 

 value. And now that its author reposes in the 

 grave, let it speak to the young, the ray and the 

 thoughtless who luiow not as yet how to appre- 

 ciate whatever is [nactical, as coming from the 

 cji-ave — as the best advice from one of the excel- 

 lent of the earth. 



"The first Flower," a poetical coimnuiiication 

 ai-companied the letter to the editor from which 

 these extracts are taken. As "strikingly sublime 

 and beautifi'.l" we then noticed the sixth stanza 

 addressed to the tender plant of early spring 

 which may be taken as the emblem of unpro- 

 tected innocence when all the evil passions of 

 the world are arrayed against it, as follows : — 

 " But the same Power ord.iin'd thy birth, 



And ting'd the soft cerulean eye, 

 That pois'd in space this niigli'ty earth, 

 And hung its quenchless lamps on high." 



Addressing the same flower, while she holds it 

 ii|) as the einhkiii of our own short and hasty 

 life, she marks, by a delicate allusion to the "lo.'it 

 of ours" (as now appears the death of her own 

 oft'spring) the difference between the fate of in- 

 animate vegetation which " blooms on earth 

 again," and the dissolution of that body which 

 contains a so\il, "immortal as its sire," that never 



" Yet art thou frjil ! thy transient hour~ 



or bloom .ind hruity will be o'er 

 Ere spring shall dress the grepu-wood bower, 



And spread his bright, voluptuous store. 



" Ev'n now, thy hues are in their wane. 



Thou first born uf the race of flowers ! 

 Go ! thou shall bloom on e'arth again, 



Unlike the lov'd and lost of ours." 



So much and so deep sensibility, inspired with 

 so much of the geutiine spirit of poetry, we val- 

 ued the scraps which we now and then received 

 lom this fair correspondent whose initials, "E. 

 D." we did not even know as indi;;iting her name. 

 We hoped that no domestic affliction, no loss of 

 health IukI prevented her from continuing her 

 contiihutions (or more than a year past. We did 

 not, until within a very few days of her death, 

 dream that a spirit so pure, so bright, so 

 liisciiiating even to those wlio had only setu her 

 through the public press, was about " to return 

 lo the God who gave it." The melancholy story 

 •IS told in the letter and articles below: we could 

 not allow ourselves to suppress any thing ; and if 

 our friend who sends the articles will reflect that 

 ihe alterations in her last heart thrilling, soul- 

 elevating productions that he has seen fit to make 

 Jie quite as interesting to the reader as to him- 

 self or us, he will ask of us no apology for pub- 

 lishing what he only intended very possibly as a 

 letter for our own eye. — Ed. F. M. Visitor. 



Lebanon, A*. H. Juiie 29,' 1841. 



Hon. Isaac Hill — Sir: — The enclosed sheets 

 were this morning handed me with request that 

 I woidd copy, coi rect, and transmit them to you ; 

 but I have thought advisable to forward the oii- 

 ginals. 



The only exception I could take was to their 

 length: and I suegested to Mr. Daniels the im- 

 probability that they would now find place in 

 yom- colunms, crowded as they are at this time 

 with the proceedings of the State and National 

 Legislatures. 



Sheet No. 1, is from the pen of her only brother, 

 IJenjamin Kimball True, a lawyer of Wall-street, 

 New York, who hurried to Plainfield to receive 

 his highly gifted sister's expiring sigh. The 

 other is fi'oin an honored and afTuctionate hus- 

 band, a plain farmer; and the two scraps of poe- 

 try are by his deceased wife, composed, of course, 

 since the deaths of her children, during her last 

 sickness, and afler all hopes of her continuance 

 long in this life were at an end. ]t becomes not 

 me to speak of the merits of these productions, 

 they being the composition of my sister's chil- 

 dren ; but I cannot but be forcibly impressed, per- 

 haps by the partiality of a relative, with some of 

 the lines of the " Spirit Land ;" the seventh stnn- 

 ■^a in particular, strikes me as one of surpassing 

 pathos and beauty. This scrip, written shortly 

 iiefore her decease, and her strength not permit- 

 ting revision by herself; I was requested to cor- 

 rect, a task for w hicli I feel myself unfitted. In 

 the second line of tlie fir.st verse, I have written 

 "phantom'' lor ".■fpinV," but on reflection have 

 doubts of its propiiety. In the third line of the 

 second verse, I have written "g-iwWjtg'" for "de- 

 serts," and in the first line of the third verse, I have 

 substituted " icoafe" for " waters," a manifest im- 

 provement; and in the third line have written 

 "alo/V for "o/ar"— the latter word being found 

 in the L-it, 3d and 4th verses. There are other 

 recurrent words which might easily be changed — 

 but it matters not. 



With esteem and respect, I sub- 

 scribe, sir, sincere! v yoius, 



R. K . 



Died at Plainfield, N. H. Decendier 31, 18.36, 

 Henriettf. Daniels, aged 2 years: January 31, 

 1841, Hampden Damels, aged 3 years : and at 

 her residence in the same town, June 1(), 1841, 

 Mr.^. EUNICE TRIE D.\NIELS, aged .34 years, 

 wife and children of William H. Daniels. 



Editors in Aeic Hampshire and JVew York are 

 respectfully requested to notice the above. 



So death, after cutting the flowers one by one, 

 has now cut down the parent stock, and children 

 and mother sleep side by side. The tear was 

 not dry in that mother's eye, and the graves of 

 her little ones were not green, ere she herself, a 

 wife, a mother, a daughter, and a sister, is requir- 

 ed lo yield her spirit up into the hand of her 

 God, and tears gush out anew from a thousand 

 sleeping fountains. 



The death of Mrs. Daniels has filled a large 

 circle of friends and relations with the deepest 

 grief and mourning, and shown that love, and 

 tears, and prayers, avail little when the time is 

 come to die. They honored her for her virtue 

 and high improvement of the " talent" committed 

 to her charge ; they loved her for her kindness, 



warm-hearted friendship and noble nature ; and 

 they now weep for her because the pain of part- 

 ing with such a friend is keen, and her loss can- 

 not be made good ; and because tears relieve the 

 wounded spirit, and are the holiest sacrifice they 

 can offer upon her grave. Alas! "the life that 

 made our own lives a pleasure, is at an end, and 

 the gates of death are shut upon our prospects." 



Eulogies of the dead are perhaps invidious and 

 useless, except so fiir as they may leach the living 

 to grow wiser and better; and this hist humble 

 tribute of affection is mainly prompted by a sin- 

 cere desire to hold u|) to her surviving friends a 

 bright example, that they may study, then "go 

 and do likewise." 



At morn— the cup of life was high 



With love, and hope, and joy combin'd ; 



Fresh flowers of loveliest form and dye 

 Around its sparkling brim were twin'd ; 



And dew-drops, when the sun was up 



Like golden gems, hung round that cup. 



.\t noon — grey twilight's early veil 

 Had shadow'd there a feartul spell ; 



Love, hope, and joy were turned to wail. 

 And one by one the flower wreaths fell ; 



Those gems, the cup they glitter'd on, 



.\11, all wore scattered, broken — gone. 



Sleep on. loved one, thy silent bed 

 Is the broad temple of the day, 



Whose azure curtains high o'erspread 



.\lp 



Ear: 



must be. 



Thy mute compr\ni< 



The stars and silvery moon at night 



Will watch the grave where virtue sleeps; 

 And when the east pours out its light, 



Nature a thousand vigils keeps ; 

 And light clouds, all the live-long day, 

 In shadows on thy tomb will play. 



Thy life a sn-.rka Httiil nl„w ■ 



LitU ,1 IM, - ,m;,, .,l,n,le. 



Hasqu,.. : ■ :i: •■ „ l.m,, below, 



Tol.jll II I ■ i nf Gnd; 



Who w.'uM n I . rr,,. ,i.. .Ill's bitterest woe, 

 To know the MVsri;iut;s thoudostknow ? 



Sleep sweetly on, thou dearest one, 

 'Till Time's last tide shall stop its flow; 



And as Eternity rolls on, 



Bright, and more bright, thy being grow ; 



Thy memory lives — ah ! ask not where — 



Our hearts, our hearts — 'tis there, 'tis there ! 



Plainfeld, June 20, 1841. 



Hon. Isaac Hill — Dear Sir: — You may re- 

 cognize in the enclosed name of the deceased, 

 the authoress of several small contributions to 

 the 3d, 4th, .5th, Gth, and 7th Nos. of your Month- 

 ly Visitor, entitled " T'^e frst Flowet-"—" Song of 

 the Husbandman" — " Pray without ceasing" — 

 " White rose" Sfc. She would have continued her 

 communications but for her long and incessant 

 ill-health, which forbade. 1 send two small pie- 

 ces compo.sed after the death of her children, 

 " Early Death" and " TVie Spirit Land." The for- 

 mer is descriptive of our little hoy, of precocious 

 body and intellect, and who was in perfect health 

 till within a few hours of his death, )ihysicians 

 not knowing the cause. These I leavo at your 

 option. 



It may be asking lOO much to request you to 

 publish "this communication in your " Patriot" and 

 also in your " Visitor" — however, if your titne 

 and kindness allow you so to do, or to add any 

 remarks of your own, you will most truly oblige 

 a large circle of mourning friends. 

 I am, dear sir. 



Very truly yours, 



WM. H. DANIELS. 



EARLY DEATH. 



'Twns morn — ^-I saw the blooming boy, 

 All mirth and smiles and bounding glee, 



Spring forth to drink of nature's joy, 

 'Mid bloom and flowers less fair than he. 



The sweet wild rose of life was fresh 



On lip and check where smiles were playing; 

 The breeze was in the clustering mesh 



Of his light locks, the soft curls swaying. 

 And then his voice ! it haunts me .still ! 



And oft in liappy dreams comes o'er me ; 

 .\nd that bright form— go where I will. 



In all its light ofl flits before me. 

 "fwas night — the boy — oh where was he ? 



Where ! manhood's stately head was bow'd. 

 And woman sobb'd in agony, 



The boy was in his folding shroud. 

 i gaz'd, the pure white brow was there — 



The smile around the lip still wreathing — 



