WILLIAM DAVIS GALLAGHER.
[Concluded from Volume I, Page 375.]
The new "literary comet" thus
announced was (pathetic
repetition!) still another Literary
Journal and Monthly
Review, edited by L. A. Hine, and referred to by him some
years later as "my first literary
wreck." It was published
at Nashville, Tennessee, and conducted
nominally, by E. Z.
C. Judson-" Ned Buntline."
In those years of prosperity and
constant pen-wielding,
Mr. Gallagher's muse was liberal. Then
it was that the
poet, caring more for the sentiment than
the form of his
utterance, dashed off the strong and
fervent lyrics, by
which he became really recognized as a
man of original
power. He sang the dignity of intrinsic
manhood, the
nobleness of honest labor, and the glory
of human free-
dom. Much that he wrote was extremely
radical; his
poetry was tinctured with the gospel of
Christian social-
ism, and the example he set was imitated
by many other
writers of verse.
"Be thou like the first Apostles-
Be thou like heroic Paul;
If a free thought seek expression,
Speak it boldly!-speak it all!
"Face thine enemies-accusers;
Scorn the prison, rack, or rod!
And, if thou hast truth to utter,
Speak! and leave the rest to God!"
Such lines as these, and as compose the
poems "Truth
and Freedom,"
"Conservatism," "The Laborer," "Radi-
calos," "The Artisan,"
"The New Age," "All Things
Free," went to the brain and heart
of many people; and
it is not to be doubted that they
exerted a deep and lasting
influence. Of a more distinctly
practical type were his
melodious pieces describing the West and
the life of the
pioneer; and still more popular, in
their day, were his
songs, many of which were set to music
and sung in thea-
309
310
Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly.
ters and at the fireside. In 1845 was
written his famous
ballad, "The Spotted Fawn,"
which everybody knew by
heart.
A man of Gallagher's principles could
not be other
than an opposer of slavery. When the
office of the
Philanthropist, the anti-slavery paper established in Cin-
cinnati, by James G. Birney, was mobbed,
and the press
thrown into the Ohio river, Gallagher
was one of the
citizens who, meeting with Hammond, Chase
and others,
at the Gazette office, arranged
for a public meeting to be
held at the Court-house, for the purpose
of sustaining free
speech. Years afterwards, in 1848
probably, Gallagher's
feeling on the slavery question became
so positive that he
felt it a political duty to withdraw
from the Gazette in
order to edit the Daily Message. "The
most I remember
about
this paper is," so he wrote in 1884, " that I gave its
editorial columns altogether too
anti-slavery (not abolition)
a tinge to make it acceptable to
business men in Cincin-
nati, who had commenced transactions
with business men
South, and that soon after publishing
the address of the
first National Convention of the
Anti-Slavery party of the
United States, (which even the
Cincinnati Gazette re-
fused to publish), the paper was almost
kicked out of the
stores on the river tier of squares, and
I made up my
mind that I must leave the paper very
soon or the time
would not be long before it would leave
me (and my wife
and babies) without anything to eat. So
I left it and
went back to the Gazette."
While connected with the Gazette, Gallagher
did much
to encourage the literary effort in the
Ohio Valley. It is
interesting to learn that of the young
writers whom he
brought before the public, Murat
Halstead is one. Mr.
Halstead humorously says, " I was
ruined by Mr. Galla-
gher; he accepted and published in the Gazette
a story
which I had written and carefully copied
over three
times."
Gallagher was twice elected President of
the " Histori-
William Davis Gallagher. 311
cal and Philosophical Society of
Ohio." The sixty-sec-
ond anniversary of the settlement of
Ohio was commem-
orated by the society on April 8, 1850,
when the president
delivered a discourse full of
information and vigorous
thought, on the " Progress in the
Northwest." This ad-
dress was published by W. H. Derby, and
copies of it are
now much sought after.
The year 1850 marks the beginning of a
new line of
experiences for Mr. Gallagher. His
experiments in liter-
ary journalism ended with the Hesperian.
His ten years'
editorial service on the Gazette came
to a close, for rea-
sons which we give in his own written
words:
" While I was connected with Judge
Wright and L. C,
Turner, in the editorship of the
Cincinnati Daily Gazette.
'Tom' Corwin was appointed to the head
of the Treasury
department at Washington, and
immediately offered me
the place of private secretary, which I
was urged to ac-
cept. This, I believe, was in the year
1850. I
was what I
considered in advance of both
Wright and Turner, in re-
lation to sundry questions of public
and party nature, and
on several occasions had felt it my
duty to commit the
paper, much to Wright's dissatisfaction.
Finally a
counting-room consultation was
determined upon, and the
L'Hommedieus were called into the
editorial room.
Stephen, the elder brother, sympathized
with me from
principle. Richard, the younger, agreed with Wright, as
he said, from policy. 'What,
Judge,' Stephen after a
while inquired, 'is Gallagher's
besetting sin in editorial
matters?' 'Why,' promptly replied the
Judge, without
any exhibition of ill-nature, 'he is
forever treading upon
somebody's toes-and causing
dissatisfaction, in the party
as well as among business men.' Until
this I had said
nothing, but now I quickly responded,
'That, gentlemen,
will never be a cause of complaint
against Judge Wright
-because he is forever behind the
life and soul of his
party, or at the best, stumbling
against somebody's heels.'
There was an instantaneous pause, when
Stephen left and
312 Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly.
beckoned me out of the room. I followed
him, and much
to his dissatisfaction, notified him
that I should withdraw
from the Gazette and accept Mr.
Corwin's offer."
Soon after going to Washington and
entering upon the
discharge of his duties in the Treasury
department, the
United States Senate called upon the
Secretary for a re-
port upon the merchant marine, internal
and coastwise
Reliable materials for such a report
were not at hand, and
Gallagher, having the reputation for
ability to "hold his
tongue," was directed to proceed
to the various interior
customs districts of the United States
and collect infor-
mation in regard to the revenue, and
Edward D. Mansfield
was appointed to proceed upon similar
business to the dis-
tricts upon the Atlantic seacoast. All
the materials in,
Gallagher drew up the report, which was
much com-
mended in the department.
This over, he was immediately
dispatched to the city
of New York for a million of dollars in
gold, out of the
sub-treasury, with which he was
instructed to proceed to
New Orleans, by sea, and to deposit
with the United States
treasury in that city. This was to be a
secret removal of
gold, required in the settlement of
Mexican claims. The
specie was quietly conveyed to the
steamship Georgia, of
the Howland and Aspinwall line, and
placed in a chest un-
der the floor of the ladies' cabin
before any passengers
were received on board. Besides Mr.
Gallagher, the cap-
tain and the purser were the only souls
on the ship who
were aware that it bore golden freight.
The voyage was
in mid-winter; the weather proved
stormy.
Key West was reached without accident,
but within an
hour after the voyage was resumed from
that point the
ship struck a rock. By skillful
piloting, the rock was
cleared; and, after a much longer than
average trip, New
Orleans was finally reached on a Sunday
morning. As
soon as the passengers were ashore, the
gold was loaded
in a wagon, and hauled to the office of
the Assistant
United States Treasurer, where
Gallagher had it securely
William Davis Gallagher. 313
placed under lock. With the key in his
pocket, he went
to the St. Charles Hotel and got
breakfast. That over, he
proceeded to the telegraph office, and
sent the follow-
ing dispatch: " Hon. Thomas Corwin,
Secretary of the
Treasury, Washington. All Right. W. D.
Gallagher,
New Orleans." Returning to Washington, Gallagher
resumed his labors as private secretary.
One day he
found among the papers which it was his
duty to examine
a letter signed by some of his old
Cincinnati friends, sug-
gesting that an extra compensation of
not less than
$1,000
should be given him as an appropriate acknowl-
edgement of his general services to the
Whig party and
to the government. He showed the letter
to another
officer of the department, who was
pleased with it, saying:
There is precedent enough for such
extra compensation
for similar services, and it is all
right-but do you thiuk
the Secretary will consent to it."
"I don't think he will
ever have an opportunity to consent to
it," Gallagher
replied, and threw the letter into the
grate and burned it
up. "You ought not to have done
that, Gallagher,"
remarked Mr. H-, " but-"
" Perhaps not; but no per-
sonal friends of mine shall ever be
tempted by other
personal friends to do anything for me
like that pro-
posed." Within an hour Mr. Corwin
came back to the
department from a visit to the
President. Mr. H-, good-
naturedly, mentioned the matter to him,
whereupon he
sent, by messenger, a request that
Gallagher would step
into his room. When the latter
presented himself, Cor-
win, with a very solemn expression upon
his face, said,
not angrily, but with sternness in his
tone, " Gallagher,
are you in the habit, as my private
secretary, of destroy-
ing such of my private letters as you
happen not to
like?" "Governor, you have no
idea that I could do
anything of the sort. I destroyed one
such letter a while
ago, which concerned me more
than it did you, and which,
though meant as an act of friendship, ought
not to have
been written without my knowledge and
consent. But I
314 Ohio Archaeological and Historical
Quarterly.
suppose you know all about it."
The expression on Cor-
win's face at once relaxed, as he
continued, "I wonder
if -
and - really supposed I would
use the public
money in that way. If they did, they
were most damna-
bly mistaken."
In the summer of 1852, Gallagher had an
opportunity
of going into the New York Tribune with
Horace Greeley;
and another of taking a one-half
interest in the Cincinnati
Commercial, then controlled by his friend M. D. Potter.
He was advised and urged by such old
anti-slavery friends
as Gamaliel Bailey, Thomas H. Shreve,
Noble Butler, and
others, in Washington, Cincinnati, and
Louisville to pur-
chase half the stock of the Louisville Daily
Courier, and
to assume the editorship of that paper,
which was to be a
Southern organ for the advocacy of
Corwin's nomination
to the presidency. After long
consideration, a decision
was reached in favor of the Courier, and
Gallagher re-
turned to the West with his family,
arriving at Louisville
the first day of January, 1853. Nearly
thirty years after-
wards he wrote, "My connection with
the Courier proved
to be an unfortunate one. There was
little sympathy with
my editorial tone and teachings, either
in Louisville or
throughout Kentucky. I worked hard, and
lost money.
So in 1854 I sold my interest in the
concern, and withdrew
from the paper -having
been stigmatized again and again,
in Southern and Southwestern localities, as an abolition
adventurer on the wrong side of the Ohio
river, as former
president of the underground railroad
through Ohio for
runaway slaves, etc., etc."
Personal animosity was in-
flamed against the unpopular editor
from his boldly at-
tacking John J. Crittenden for consenting
to defend Matt.
Ward, who killed the young teacher,
Butler, in his own
school-room. Young Butler was a son of
Noble Butler,
one of Gallagher's dearest friends.
Even George D. Prentice (et tu
Brute!) joined in the hue
and cry against the Courier editor,
partly because Galla-
gher was an Irish anti-know-nothing, but mainly
on the
William Davis Gallagher. 315
core question of slavery. Prentice came
up to Cincinnati
and spent several days looking through
the files of the
Gazette to find in Gallagher's editorials abolition senti-
ments that might be used against him in
Louisville. An
article appeared in the Journal branding
Gallagher with
the crime of managing the underground
railroad. This
direct and personal attack roused the
Celtic resentment of
its subject, and he replied in the
editorial columns of the
Courier, over his signature, denying the allegation, and
closed his card by denouncing the author
of the calumny
as a scoundrel and liar." He had
caught the spirit of
personal journalism. The consequences were, if not
dramatic, at least theatrical.
Upon a day the Louisville train brings
to Pewee Valley,
in Oldham county, where Mr. Gallagher
had bought a
little farm, a military gentleman of
chivalrous appearance,
who inquires the way from the station to
Fern Rock Cot-
tage. Finding the house, he knocks, and
is admitted to
the parlor by a colored servant. The
master of the house
is indisposed, is resting upon his bed,
but clothed and in
his right mind, and able to receive his
visitor. The
military gentleman will wait. To him
presently enters
William "Dignity" Gallagher,
who, recognizing Colonel
Churchill, cordially greets him, and
asks his pleasure.
The Colonel, with equal politeness,
takes from his pocket
a letter, which he hands to the
convalescent editor. The
missive is opened, and it proves to be a
challenge from
the proprietor of the Louisville Journal.
Gallagher reads,
tears the communication into a handful
of bits, and
throws the fragments on the floor.
"Colonel Churchill,
tell Mr. Prentice that is my
answer to his foolish chal-
lenge."
Free once more, and now finally, from
political journal-
ism, Gallagher began to plant orchards,
earning bread and
butter for the time by editing an
agricultural paper, the
Western Farmer's Journal, and by writing for the Colum-
bian and Great West, a Cincinnati paper, published by his
316 Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly.
friend W. B. Shattuc. He also
contributed poems to the
National Era, edited by Dr. Bailey. With wonderful
energy, he set about organizing
industrial and educational
institutions. He established a Kentucky Mechanics'
Institute, a Kentucky State Agricultural
Society, and was
instrumental in forming the Southwestern
Agricultural
Society, of which he was made Secretary.
In the way of
useful literature, he wrote a prize essay
on " Fruit Culture
in the Ohio Valley;" and prepared
materials for a social
and statistical view of the Mississippi
Valley.
Pewee Valley (at first named Pewee's
Nest by Noble
Butler, from the circumstance that when
locating a build-
ing site there he wrote letters in a
ruined cabin in which
the pewees had built) is a beautiful
village, on the Louis-
ville & Nashville Railroad, about
sixteen miles east of
Louisville. It became a chosen resort of
people of culture
and taste. There lived Edwin Bryant, who
had been
the Alcalde of San Francisco in the
gold-seeking days;
Noble Butler, the educator, resided
there; the wealthy
and accomplished Warfield family made
their refined and
hospitable home at Pewee Valley. Mr. Gallagher's
house,
a rambling frame cottage, covered with
American ivy,
was built in the midst of great forest
trees--beech, oak,
maple, poplar, and a newer growth of
sassafras, dogwood,
black-haw, and evergreens. Gray
squirrels barked and
skipped about the door-yard, and the cat
bird, the red
bird and the unceremonious blue jay came
near the
porches for their daily bread.
Mr. Gallagher greatly enjoyed the
picturesque surround-
ings, and the congenial society of Pewee
Valley. Being
of a generous and friendly disposition
he was liked by all
who knew him. Western literary people
were especially
attached to him. His correspondence with
that class was
extensive. The following letter may
stand as a fair rep-
resentative of the many that were sent
him. It was writ-
ten from New York, nearly thirty years
ago, by one, who,
William Davis Gallagher. 317
at that time, was regarded as the
coining man in literature,
Mr. William Ross Wallace.
[ William Ross Wallace to W. D.
Gallagher.]
"N. Y., August 17, 1860.
"MY DEAR OLD FRIEND:-Your most kind
and welcome
letter came to hand several days since;
and I have delayed
an answer until I could read your lady
friend's novel. This
I have done with very great interest, as
it is brimful of
genius and a most peculiar, startlingly
original power.
Mrs. Warfield is certainly endowed with
great talent and
moral force. Her style is rich, yet
chaste- full of a mature
and lasting splendor. I should think
that this Romance
will place her, at a bound, at the head
of our female
authors-while she will compare favorably
with the mas-
culine. Of course, I will do all in my
power in the way
of newspaper notices; although the work
needs no bolster-
ing. I am very glad, my dear friend,
that you like my
poems- as it is pleasant to be admired
by those whom
we admire.
" Do send me a copy of your
wood-thrush-note when it
rings, at last, through the grand old
woods. I hope to
publish soon a long national poem,
entitled "Chants in
America " - devoted to our glorious
scenery and deeds.
I take a motto from yourself for the
first part. Do you
ever see Noble Butler? and Mr. Bryant?
Mr. Fosdick
told me that you were all neighbors. I
have dear mem-
ories of both B's.
"I shall publish a notice of Mrs.
W.'s great novel in a
few days, and send you a copy of the
paper containing it.
"Please let me know when you
receive this, and believe
me to be yours affectionately,
"WILLIAM ROSS WALLACE.
"Wm. D. Gallagher, Esq."
The novel here referred to was "The
Household of
Bouverie," published in 1860 by J.
C. Derby, and by him
described as a "wonderful
romance."1
Busied with the labors of peace,
Gallagher little antici-
pated how soon he was to assume
important duties of war
1 Fifty Years Among Authors, Books and Publishers. J. C.
Derby, 1884.
318 Ohio Archaeological and Historical
Quarterly.
not in the capacity of a military man,
but as a civil officer
of the government, which he had served
so faithfully
before. A new President of the United
States was to be
chosen. He attended several political
conventions-one
State convention-was a delegate from
Kentucky to the
National convention at Chicago, in
1860, and was made
somewhat conspicuous there by a
response which he gave
in reply to an address of welcome.
Though his personal
preference was for Mr. Chase, he went
with the current
for "Old Abe," working hard
and voting for his nomina-
tion, against that of William H.
Seward; and was one of
those who carried the news to
Springfield. In these and
other public ways, he rendered himself
so objectionable to
the great mass of the people in his
neighborhood, who
were opposed to the election of Mr.
Lincoln, that a public
meeting was called and held within a
mile of his house,
for the purpose of giving him notice to
leave the State.
The situation was now dramatic in
earnest, and might
have become tragic, had it not been for
the personal
friendship of some of his political
opposers. On the day
of the threatened violence, Mr. Gallagher
had intended to
go from his home to Cincinnati. At Pewee
Station, his
friend, Mr. Haldeman, called out:
"Gallagher, have you
seen Dr. Bell?" "No."
"He says they are going to mob
you; there is a crowd at Beard's
Station, and they swear
you must leave the State." Dr. Bell
came up and advised
Gallagher to go on to Cincinnati.
"No, gentlemen; if
violence is meditated, my family are the
first considera-
tion, and home is the place for me. Mr.
Crow"-this to
the station keeper-" let it be
known that I am at home."
Haldeman forced into Gallagher's hand a
navy revolver,
though the poet had never fired a pistol
in his life; another
political enemy, but personal friend,
gave him a big bowie-
knife, and thus grimly over-armed he
returned to Fern
Rock, to the amazement of his wife and
daughters.
The meeting at Beard's Station was a
dangerous one,
but Gallagher's rebel neighbors, with
warm respect for the
William Davis Gallagher. 319
man and chivalrous regard for fair
play, demanded a hear-
ing. A stalwart young mechanic took
upon himself to
champion the cause of free opinion.
"I hate Gallagher's
politics as much as any of
you," said this gallant Ken-
tuckian to the crowd, "but he has
as good a right to his
ideas as we have to ours, and
"-with a string of terrible
oaths-" whoever tries to lay a
hand on him, or to give
him an order to leave the State, must
first pass over my
dead body." The notice was not
served; but after hours
of talk, the assemblage contented
itself with providing
for the appointment of a
"vigilance committee" for the
neighborhood and dispersed. The
excitement died away,
and the Gallagher family lived in
comparative safety; the
stars and stripes floated above the
roof of Fern Rock Cot-
tage during the six gloomy years of the
war.
When Mr. Chase was made Secretary of
the Treasury,
Gallagher was invited to accept the
same position under
him that he had held under Mr. Corwin.
As the war went
on, it became necessary for the
government to appoint a
special Collector of Customs for the
ports of delivery in
the interior, on the Mississippi river
and elsewhere. Mr.
Lincoln selected Gallagher for this
important office. He
was also made special commercial agent
for the upper
Mississippi Valley. By his vigilance,
provisions and
stores, to the value of millions,
intended for the aid and
comfort of the confederates, were
intercepted and saved
to the Union.
In the summer of 1863, he was appointed
to the office
of Surveyor of Customs in Louisville,
and at the close of
the war he was made Pension Agent. His
public duties
were all discharged punctually and with
the strictest integ-
rity. He made no money out of his
country's misfortunes.
In the midst of official labor he found
time and inspi-
ration for the occasional use of his
good goose-quill, (for he
never uses a steel pen,) and he
produced several stirring
poems that did better work than many bullets.
Chief of
these were the patriotic ballad
"Grandpa Nathan," and
320
Ohio Archaeological and
Historical Quarterly.
the timely lyrics " Move on the
Columns " and " The Pres-
ident's Gun," the last a poem on
the emancipation proc-
lamation.
The echoes of battle died away and Mr.
Gallagher
returned to his quiet farm, planted
flowers, made rockeries,
and planned new buildings. He resumed
the useful pen,
writing masterly communications for the
"Louisville and
Ohio Valley Manufacturer and
Merchant." One of his
articles is on "Cotton and Tobacco,"
another on "Our
Commercial Exchanges." Perhaps his
ablest statistical
discourses is one published in pamphlet
form in 1879, en-
titled "The Area of Subsistence,
and its Natural Outlet
to the Ocean and the World," a
discussion of the resources
of the great Southwest, and a
counterpart to his address
of 1850 on the Northwest.
In the reaction that followed the
seeming prosperity
stimulated by the war, Mr. Gallagher
suffered financially,
as did thousands of others. His property
at Pewee Val-
ley depreciated and he also lost money
by unfortunate
investments. Driven by necessity he earned his living by
spending patient hours at the clerical
desk as salaried
secretary of the "Kentucky Land
Company." In 1881,
he was working, as he expressed it,
"like a beaver," a
statement that recalls his brother's
complaint more than
sixty years before, that Billy was
toiling "like a nigger."
If ever a citizen was entitled to
government appoint-
ment on the score of faithful public
service, Gallagher
was. Several of his political friends
presented his claims
to the President and the Secretary of
the Interior, in 1871.
His endorsers in Kentucky were such men
as B. H. Bris-
tow, G. C. Wharton and John M. Harlan.
Hon. Charles
P. James wrote to President Hayes from
Washington, " I
am able to say that his reputation,
whether as an officer
or business man, has been absolutely
without imputation
of wrong or neglect. He has always been
known as a
remarkably hard worker, and as a man of
great moral
courage." A letter written by
General R. C. Schenck said
William Davis Gallagher. 321
of Gallagher, "He can bring to the
public service, high
character, undoubted integrity, and
great literary ability."
On the back of this is written, with
bold emphasis, "I
concur in the foregoing
recommendation. J. A. Garfield."
It was Guiteau's bullet that prevented
Gallagher from re-
ceiving an appointment from the man of
Mentor.
It is painful to record that, in 1882,
lured by promises
and prodded by need, the proud poet went
to Washington
in the forlorn hope of employment by
the government.
On August 21, his seventy-fourth
birthday, he wrote from
Washington to his children at
Louisville, the following
brave verses, which, whatever be their
literary short-com-
ings, have a merit of courage,
patience, and resignation
that is deeply touching. The lack of
poetry in the lines
is more than made up by the unconscious pathos;
"So you! so each and all who bear
My name!--so all my blood who share!
Come good, come ill-come weal, come woe-
No murmurs breathe, no faintings know!
If dark the day, or if you bask
In sunshine, still pursue your task.
If hard the labor, more the need
Of perseverance, trial, heed.
And if, when sets the cheerful sun
Your task shall not be wholly done,
Your hopes fulfilled, your wants
supplied,
Your aspirations satisfied,
Feel not discomfited, depressed,
But calmly seek your needed rest,
And brace you for the further fray,
As soon as opes the coming day-
Remembering still, day out and in,
They win who work, they work who
win."
Mrs. Emma Adamson Gallagher, the poet's
wife, died at
Pewee Valley, December 26, 1867, of
heart disease. Sud-
denly stricken, she fell to the floor,
and soon afterwards
expired. She bore to her husband nine
children, of whom
one son, Edward, and three daughters,
Jane, Emma and
Fanny, are living.
Vol. II-21
322
Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly.
Incidental mention is made, in the
foregoing narrative,
of Mr. Gallagher's ringing lyrics of
reform, and his songs
celebrating the days of the pioneer.
These made their
author famous half a century ago, and
were praised in the
magazines of Percival, Sprague,
Brainard, and James F.
Clarke. Fine and forcible as these
eloquent and melo-
dious pieces are, they are surpassed in
poetical merit by
the author's delicate lyrics descriptive
of nature, such as
his poems on " May" and on
"August," and his lines to
"The Cardinal Bird." These
have been reprinted so
often that they are accessible to any
reader who has access
to a general library. But there is a
little poem, written by
Mr. Gallagher in 1852, which has
never appeared in any
volume, and which has qualities of such
exquisite sweet-
ness and tenderness, and open-hearted
spontaneity, that I
quote it here:
THE BROWN THRUSH.
Brown-mantled bird that in the dim old
forest
Which stands far-spreading in my own
loved West,
At dewy eve and purple morn outpourest
The sweet, wild melodies that thrill thy
breast,-
How like to thine were my young heart's
libations,
Poured daily to the giver of all good!
How like our love and simple
ministrations
At God's green altars in the deep
and hallowed woods.
We trilled our morn and evening songs together,
And twittered 'neath green leaves at
sultry noon;
We kept like silence in ungenial
weather,
And never knew blue skies come back too
soon.
We sang not for the world; we sang not even
For those we loved; we could not help
but sing,-
There was such beauty in the earth and
heaven,
Such music in our hearts, such joy in
everything!
Wild warbler of the woods! I hear thee
only
At intervals of weary seasons now;
Yet while through dusty streets I
hasten, lonely
And sad at heart, with cares upon my
brow,
There comes from the green aisle of the old forest
A gushing melody of other days-
And I again am with thee, where thou pourest
In gladness unto God the measure of thy
praise
William Davis Gallagher. 323
The brief preface to Mr. Gallagher's
"Miami Woods
and Other Poems," published in
Cincinnati in 1881, tells
us that nearly the entire contents of the volume, except-
ing the miscellaneous poems,
"appear in print now for
the first time, though written at
various periods between
twenty-five and forty-two years
ago." A subsequent vol-
ume, in which will be embraced "
The Ancient People,"
" Ballads of the Border,"
"Civile Bellum," was promised,
but it will probably never appear, for
the first volume was
not a financial success. The book, a
handsome octavo of
264 pages, has its contents divided into
five sections:
I, Miami Woods; II, A Golden Wedding;
III, In Exaltis;
IV, Life Pictures; V, Miscellaneous.
"Miami Woods" is a long poem,
divided into seven
parts, corresponding to seven periods in
which it was
composed. The first part was written in
1839, the seventh
in 1856. The poem is essentially
descriptive, though it
abounds in meditations and reflections on
various sub-
jects- political, social, moral,
religious and philosophical.
This didactic quality reminds the
reader of Wordsworth's
"Excursion."
Bryant has described many features of
the American
landscape with charming fidelity, yet
with something of
photographic coldness. Gallagher's verse paints the
forest and field with Nature's own
color, and glows with
the warmth of human love and joy.
"Miami Woods"
is a sort of Thompson's "
Seasons," adapted to the Ohio
Valley. J. J. Piatt, in his poems,
gives many touches of
inimitable natural description, and his
"Penciled Fly
Leaves" is a gallery of delicate
etchings of Western
scenery. Mr. Gallagher has painted a
true and quite
complete panorama of the changing year
in Western
woods. It can be said, in the words of
Pope, that he
made the groves
" Live in description and look
green in song."
Whether his book will be sought in the
future for its
324 Ohio
Archaeological and Historical Quarterly.
literary value or not, there can be no
doubt that it will be
recognized as the historical
daguerreotype gallery of
woodland scenery now forever passed
away.
Pleasing as are the fine descriptive
passages in this
poem, they do not take hold of the
heart, as does the
simple, pathetic narrative, that runs,
like an artery of life-
blood, through the entire work. Never was sweeter or
sadder story told in prose or verse.
The mournful tender-
ness of it disarms criticism and brings
tears to the eyes. It
is the record of a father's love for a
beautiful, sympathetic
child--a daughter--who was first
stricken with loss of
reason, and then with death. To the
memory of this
darling child the volume is dedicated,
most touchingly.
I give some passages from "Miami
Woods," which,
taken together, convey, though
imperfectly, an idea of the
poem, and especially of the narrative
portion of it, to
which attaches the greatest human
interest:
"I am here-
The same, yet not the same, as when at
first,
In mild, reflective mood, and artless
verse,
I sang thy charms, and lifted from their
midst
My heart to God. The same, yet not the
same;
For on the dial-plate of Life, since
then,
The shadow of my quickly rounding years
Has numbered twelve. And I have wandered
far,
And much have seen of glory and of
grief;
And much have known of pleasure and of
pain;
And much have thought of human pomp and
pride,
Which are the sorriest and baldest
things
The indulgent eye of Heaven looks down
upon."
*
* * *
* * *
" The same, yet not the same:
'Twas Autumn then in thy deep heart,
which mourn'd
Its Summer glories, passing fast away;
But in my own, perpetual fountains
played,
And to perpetual hopes that cluster
there,
Gave brightest bloom. But Autumn now has
come
To my bereaved heart, which inly
moans
For withered hopes and blighted flowers
of love,
While thine is full of gushing melodies,
And sunnier slopes, and green and
blooming nooks.
*
* * *
*
William Davis Gallagher. 325
" Far away
The alder-thicket robed in brightest
bloom,
Is shining like a sunlit cloud at rest;
Nearer, the brier-roses load the air
With sweetness; and where yon
half-hidden fence
And topping cabin mark the Pioneer's
First habitation in the wilderness.
The gay bignonia to the ridge-pole
climbs,
The yellow willow spreads its generous
shade
Around the cool spring's margin, and the
old
And bent catalpa waves its fan-like
leaves
And lifts its milk-white
blossoms, beautiful!"
*
* * * * *
"A summer's day
She gathered flowers, and mock'd the
birds, and blew
The time o' the day on greybeard
dandelions.
When eve approached, we hither came, and
paused,
Struck with the various beauty of the
scene.
She sat beside me on this grassy knoll,
That looks out on it all, and gazed and
gazed
Until the mind, so darkened now, was
filled
With light from heaven, and love for
earth, and joy
That in such pleasant places God had
cast
Our lot. We lingered till the sun went
down,
Then, silent as the shadows-of the night
That gathered round us, took our
homeward way.
* * * * *
"Oh, from this scene the bloom hath
faded now;
And that which was the soul of it to me,
The glory and the grace, sits far away,
Beneath the shadow of a sorrow big
With all that can affright or overwhelm
-
My heart would break - my stricken heart
would break
Could I not pour upon the murmuring
winds,
When thus it swells, the burden of its
woe,
In words that soothe, how sad so e'er
they be.
"Now from the stormy Huron's broad
expanse,
From Mackinaw and from the Michigan,
Whose billows beat upon the sounding
shores
And lash the surging pines, come
sweeping down
Ice-making blasts, and raging sheets of
snow;
The heavens grow darker daily; bleakest
winds
Shriek through the naked woods; the
robber, owl
Hoots from his rocking citadel all
night.
* * * * * *
326 Ohio Archaeological and Historical
Quarterly.
"I sing no more the passion and the
pain
That here o'ercame me; the triumphant
joy
With which, when last I bade these
scenes farewell
I went upon my way, all starred with
light,
I sing no more forever. The sweet hope,
That like an angel sat beside my heart
And sang away its sorrow then, hath
since
Gone down in desolation. That which was
The central harmony of all this song,
The beautiful young life that to each
swell
And cadence gave the spirit that it
hath,
It is no more a bodily presence here,
It is no more of earth; and now the last
Faint strain of this prolonged and
fitful lay,
Which but for her and for the love she
bore
These scenes, had known no second touch,
must die
Into a murmurous sound-a sigh-a breath."
W. H. VENABLE.
WILLIAM DAVIS GALLAGHER.
[Concluded from Volume I, Page 375.]
The new "literary comet" thus
announced was (pathetic
repetition!) still another Literary
Journal and Monthly
Review, edited by L. A. Hine, and referred to by him some
years later as "my first literary
wreck." It was published
at Nashville, Tennessee, and conducted
nominally, by E. Z.
C. Judson-" Ned Buntline."
In those years of prosperity and
constant pen-wielding,
Mr. Gallagher's muse was liberal. Then
it was that the
poet, caring more for the sentiment than
the form of his
utterance, dashed off the strong and
fervent lyrics, by
which he became really recognized as a
man of original
power. He sang the dignity of intrinsic
manhood, the
nobleness of honest labor, and the glory
of human free-
dom. Much that he wrote was extremely
radical; his
poetry was tinctured with the gospel of
Christian social-
ism, and the example he set was imitated
by many other
writers of verse.
"Be thou like the first Apostles-
Be thou like heroic Paul;
If a free thought seek expression,
Speak it boldly!-speak it all!
"Face thine enemies-accusers;
Scorn the prison, rack, or rod!
And, if thou hast truth to utter,
Speak! and leave the rest to God!"
Such lines as these, and as compose the
poems "Truth
and Freedom,"
"Conservatism," "The Laborer," "Radi-
calos," "The Artisan,"
"The New Age," "All Things
Free," went to the brain and heart
of many people; and
it is not to be doubted that they
exerted a deep and lasting
influence. Of a more distinctly
practical type were his
melodious pieces describing the West and
the life of the
pioneer; and still more popular, in
their day, were his
songs, many of which were set to music
and sung in thea-
309