Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1854, by B. HERBERT LANCEYS in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Maine. BAZIN & CHANDLER, PRINTERS, 37 Cornhill, Boston. BY PERMISSION, The Native Poets of Maine,' IS DEDICATED TO HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW. THE MOST GIFTED OF AMERICAN POETS, AND A DISTINGUISHED SON OF MAINE. M107563 OUR VOLUME. "TIs like the books that silently among Our household treasures take familiar places, And are to us as if a living tongue Spoke from the printed leaves and pictured faces. Therefore we hope, as no unwelcome guest, At your warm fireside when the lamps are lighted, "Twill have its place reserved among the rest, Nor stand as one unsought and uninvited.' PROEM. BY WILLIAM BELCHER GLAZIER. HARP of the dark Pine forest-land! Harp, that the Poets' birth-place owns! How bold becomes the timorous hand, When once it wakes thy tones. Here, where the broadest rivers sweep, Here, where the dimmest woods are found, Our fondest memories start from sleep, Aroused by thy dear sound. Come, let me strike thy chords once more, And, while my fingers o'er them roam, Yes, this is Home! its tasseled pines, Its rugged hills, its short-lived flowers, Its fields where Winter late reclines, Are cheerless, but are ours. Hearts have beat, warmly here as where The strains that fill with Hope the heart, The fancies that the Poets find In buds, in streams, in forests sere, In spells that master every mind, Have all been uttered here. And thou who readest, if a strain Let it, too, bear the low refrain, This song was sung for thee.' |