Ohio History Journal

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

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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-

• 2
 

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

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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

• 4
 

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

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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

• 6
 

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

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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,

• 8
 

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.

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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

• 10
 

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

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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

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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

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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

• 14
 

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

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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.

*     *      *     *      *

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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.

*      *     *      *        *         *

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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.

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