“Qui vive?” The sentry’s musket rings, The channelled bayonet gleams; High o’er him, like a raven’s wings The broad tricolored banner flings Its shadow, rustling as it swings Pale in the moonlight beams; Pass on! while steel-clad sentries keep Their vigil o’er the monarch’s sleep, Thy bare, unguarded breast Asks not the unbroken, bristling zone […]

THE two proud sisters of the sea, In glory and in doom!– Well may the eternal waters be Their broad, unsculptured tomb! The wind that rings along the wave, The clear, unshadowed sun, Are torch and trumpet o’er the brave, Whose last green wreath is won! No stranger-hand their banners furled, No victor’s shout they […]

A STILL, sweet, placid, moonlight face, And slightly nonchalant, Which seems to claim a middle place Between one’s love and aunt, Where childhood’s star has left a ray In woman’s sunniest sky, As morning dew and blushing day On fruit and blossom lie. And yet,–and yet I cannot love Those lovely lines on steel; They […]

STRANGE! that one lightly whispered tone Is far, far sweeter unto me, Than all the sounds that kiss the earth, Or breathe along the sea; But, lady, when thy voice I greet, Not heavenly music seems so sweet. I look upon the fair blue skies, And naught but empty air I see; But when I […]

For The Services In Memory Of Abraham Lincoln City Of Boston, June 1, 1865 Choral: “Luther’s Judgment Hymn.” O THOU of soul and sense and breath The ever-present Giver, Unto thy mighty Angel, Death, All flesh thou dost deliver; What most we cherish we resign, For life and death alike are thine, Who reignest Lord […]

“DUNDEE” FATHER of Mercies, Heavenly Friend, We seek thy gracious throne; To Thee our faltering prayers ascend, Our fainting hearts are known. From blasts that chill, from suns that smite, From every plague that harms; In camp and march, in siege and fight, Protect our men-at-arms. Though from our darkened lives they take What makes […]

A Logical Story Have you heard of the wonderful one-horse shay, That was built in such a logical way It ran a hundred years to a day, And then, of a sudden, it–ah but stay, I’ll tell you what happened without delay, Scaring the parson into fits, Frightening people out of their wits, Have you […]

“Man wants but little here below.” Little I ask; my wants are few; I only wish a hut of stone, (A very plain, brown stone’ will do,) That I may call my own; And close at hand is such a one, In yonder street that fronts the sun. Plain food is quite enough for me; […]

This is the ship of pearl, which, poets feign, Sails the unshadowed main,– The venturous bark that flings On the sweet summer wind its purpled wings In gulfs enchanted, where the Siren sings, And coral reefs lie bare, Where the cold sea-maids rise to sun their streaming hair. Its webs of living gauze no more […]

My aunt! my dear unmarried aunt! Long years have o’er her flown; Yet still she strains the aching clasp That binds her virgin zone; I know it hurts her,–though she looks As cheerful as she can; Her waist is ampler than her life, For life is but a span. My aunt! my poor deluded aunt! […]

This was the popular name by which the frigate Constitution was known. The poem was first printed in the Boston Daily Advertiser, at the time when it was proposed to break up the old ship as unfit for service. I subjoin the paragraph which led to the writing of the poem. It is from the […]

I saw him once before, As he passed by the door, And again The pavement stones resound, As he totters o’er the ground With his cane. They say that in his prime, Ere the pruning-knife of Time Cut him down, Not a better man was found, By the Crier on his round Through the town. […]

One of the boys mentioned, the other evening, in the course of a very pleasant poem he read us, a little trick of the Commons table- boarders, which I, nourished at the parental board, had never heard of. Young fellows being always hungry—-Allow me to stop dead short, in order to utter an aphorism which […]

Having just returned from a visit to this admirable Institution in company with a friend who is one of the Directors, we propose giving a short account of what we saw and heard. The great success of the Asylum for Idiots and Feeble-minded Youth, several of the scholars from which have reached considerable distinction, one […]