A PRINTER-POET.

Auckland Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2241, 12 May 1877, Page 6

A PRINTER-POET.

A QUARTER of a century has passed away since there appeared in the market town of Uxbridgeja small monthly periodical, called the ' Cxbridge Spirit of Freedom,' "with Gerald Massey for its editor, and John Bedford Leno for its printer. The_ publication created considerable sensation at that revolutionary period, aud obtained more than a local circulation. In its pages appeared the earlier poems and songs both of Massey and Leno, and ever since, thfc Avriters have gone on, issuing effusions; which have attracted more than emphemeral fame. Massey Avon laurels in the field; oF poetic literature;, and Leno fame as a songwriter, chiefly for the sons of labour. We have heard some of his labour songs sung in this city of Auckland. Mr Leno, like manypoets, sings his own songs', Avhieh he has. Avritten in the intervals oi his occupation as a compositor. We are glad to notice that his ' Drurv Lane Lyrics' . have reached a third edition, and by the last mail Aye received a new volume of poems from his pen, entitled ' Kimbnrton,' a. story of_ village life. The author being a printer, priius lis; own Avorks at 50, Bookseller's Row, in the Strand, London. Some of Lmio's: songs have been much admired both, in England and America, for their truthful, i stromr, outspoken sentiments, and, I occasionally he has given ' Evenings Avitlh Burns,' and other poets, which have been, attended with pleasing results. His volume of lyrics, Avhieh contains the majority of his songs, include also a number of ? good poems, such as the ' Cavalcade,' the ' Invitation,' ' Earthly Perfection,' the. ' Orphan Girl of Brittany,' and abouttwenty others of a kindred nature. Among the songs of special merit Aye notice ' King Labour/ Ellen Kay,' 'Toil on,' 'Honest Robin,' ' The Weaver's Song,' 'The Shoemaker's Linnet,' Harvest Home,' 'The Spade,' 'Judge not a man,' etc., and as a sample avc give ' Sounds of Labour.' I love the sound of the woodman's axe l As it, fails on the sturdy oak; t ■ And the sound of the flail on the threshing f100r,.. Kre the morn has fairly broke. j The cheerful smack of the teamster's Avmp, i By the heavily-laden wain ; v, j And tho mingled sounds from the harve3t new,., A.s I pass down the old green lane. For they tell lioav thought and toil combined Can aid Creation's plan, And multiply the Avondrous gifts The soil bestows on man. I love the clack of the merry mill-Avheel, , The sound of the hammer's fall; The ring of the shivering trowel, struck By tin; hand that rears the Avail: The" dull dead sound of the pavior's bknv, The rush of the passing train, And the sailors's cry of " Yo, hcaA'e, ho! Coming over the surging main. . For they tell how thought and toil combined,. Can aid Creation's plan, And multiply the Avondrous gifts, The soil bestows on man. I love the sturdy collier's cry, The roar of the furnace strong:_ The click of type on a printer's stick, And the shouts of the toiling throng f The sound of the perilous grinder's stone,The i»ck of the knitter's frame. The spinning lathe, and the smelter's blast,. With its bursting sheet of flame. . For they tell how thought and toil coirrbmea Can aid Creation's plan. And multiply the Avondrous gifts, The soil bestows on man. Mr. Leno's last volume, ' Kiinburton,' professes to illustrate the chaiacter, employments, and scenes of the people of Buckinghamshire, among whom flic author spent, his earlier years, beside the river Colne, Avhieh separates Buckinghamshire from Middlesex. It is composed of a number of lyrical poems, the first, descriptive of the village, the second, ' The Fair,' and the succeeding ones, ' The Shepherd.' Overflows the River,' 'Our Father,' 'The Parsons, • The Poachers,' and other rural characters. The following is pleasing, and characteristic of the whole :— What Avealth Avould I gh^e to be able To picture the place of my birth— _ , The deep hidden springs now expanding To move men to sorrow and mirth ! Nor paint like a poor, Avorldly artist, , Whose hand has been strengthened ana taught: But paint Avith the whole soul Avithin me Its innermost pulses of thought! How dearly I love this old village, Set round Avith its border of trees— , With the pure Avhite smoke of each homesieaa Spread out like. a. fan in the breeze; With its choristers piping ah round it. From hedgerow, and woodland, andpusn, The redbreast, the linnet, and blackbird, The chaffinch, the wren, and the thrush . RIVAL PREACHERS. —An American paper sjivs :—There Avas" a double service nxa Methodist church at Nottingham, Manitoba, on a i ecent Sunday. A feud had rent asunder the congregation, and each faction called a new' minister. One of them tooK possession of the pulpit, and the. other sa| behind the chancel rail. The man .in we pulpit gave out one hymn, and the man Dehind tlie rail another, aud both_ were suU| simultaneously by the rival factions. -l' man behind the railing gave out his test, an the man in the pulpit began to read acU»F ter from the Bible. The chapter came tow end before the sermon, and a hynuiAv:i»^ terjeeted; but the preacher went on i^,: point to point Avithout being worriedw _■ least. A t flic close of the service, aoW explained That it had been enacted ou le A al advice, ami to further the caiw Christ.' A PIUXTKK'S MISTAKE.-:-* *Jg country editor was vrv' uosiro.i.* i« o , -^ the good graces of the new view, «;»<-.^■_ describing his first entrance into cnu. 'wrote thus: 'He U a most Yenf| Jj^