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[16] rhyme, and the first poem of his composing which is known to be preserved in manuscript is entitled, ‘Venice, an Italian Song,’ and was dated Portland Academy, March 17, 1820, he being then barely thirteen. There appeared a little later, in the poets' corner of the Portland ‘Gazette,’ the following verses, which show curiously, at the very outset, that vibration between foreign themes and home themes which always marks his verse:—

The battle of Lovell's Pond

Cold, cold is the north wind and rude is the blast
That sweeps like a hurricane loudly and fast,
As it moans through the tall waving pines lone and drear,
Sighs a requiem sad o'er the warrior's bier.

The war-whoop is still, and the savage's yell
Has sunk into silence along the wild dell;
The din of the battle, the tumult, is o'er,
And the war-clarion's voice is now heard no more.

The warriors that fought for their country, and bled,
Have sunk to their rest; the damp earth is their bed;
No stone tells the place where their ashes repose,
Nor points out the spot from the graves of their foes.

They died in their glory, surrounded by fame,
And Victory's loud trump their death did proclaim;
They are dead; but they live in each Patriot's breast,
And their names are engraven on honor's bright crest.


These verses cannot be assigned to the domain of high art, most certainly, but they mark in this

Boston and New York, Hougton, Mifflin and company, 1902.

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