SELECTED POETRY.

Colonist, Volume XV, Issue 1500, 9 February 1872, Page 4

SELECTED POETRY.

AGRICULTURAL ODE.

Mother of arts J subduing soil On prairie wide, and upland lea " Thy mercies, corn, and wine, and oil" The tribes of men receive from thee; Towns that are dotting ocean's shore, The mountain slope, and inland vale Could flourish populous no more, If thy fur granaries should fail. States would decay: no longer thrive If God withheld the golden Bhower; For natioas that wax great, derive. From thid the sinews of their power. n. When Freedom, in the mart, is found The phantom of a sounding name, Nursed by Void tillers of the ground Ib a pure, putriotio flame. For then is traced a liberal creed In Natu- c's everlasting tome, And " books in running brooks" they read That knit their hearts to hearth and home. Boused J&e the Wintry itorm when bow " The kingly oaks beneath its might Our rustic fathers left the plough, And men on Bunker's awful height. ra. Old Art of Husbandry! that gave To mortals occupation first, Thy ministry alone could save When fearfully the land was cursed. Gray Eld, wives, grandameg, little ones, Within tbe tents of peace were fed When er-flei, by sweat-drops of thy soni, Was man's primeval blessing— lread ! Great Abdershman, famed in song, And styled " magnificent" would toil Where golden Darro rolled along, Laving the renovated soil. IV. Well sung in laureled bards of Roma That ruxfi !;fe promoted health, And Cem, Qur-en of Harvest-Home, Was mother of the God of Wealth. Her countless bunks will never fail, Their b*sea Earth from whence we sprung j And Commerce to the salt-sea gale At her command the flag outflung. Far from the city's stifling heat, Chief, po-'t, orator, and sage. To rural v/'laa would retreat, And delve 'n Rome's Augustan Age. ' v. There, l<ke the singing lark of Ayr, The plough great master-spirits held, Drank rapture from the scenery fair, And fouxs that at their feet outwelled j There Mare wooed, enwreathed with bays, The Rural Muse with Art Divine, And Flaccus warbled lyrio lays Rich as his own Falernian wine; There Citiciimatua threw aside Hia rustio garb, and drew the blade When rolli: a the Volscian battle-tide, And Coi^cripfc Fathers eat dismayed. VI. And the;, in his triumphal hour, When **•"* good fight was fought and won, Eesigned w* s dictatorial power By glory's memorable son j Thus she itii^j his victorious brand, Hushed the loud drum-beat of alarm, The guari?;an of a rescued land Found quiet on Mount Vernon's farm. Alas! tHt fVii'ricidal blood Pollutes the land that holds his bones, While, sit! h>3 by Potomac's flood, Tho gec-.us of Columbia moans. VII. With labo/s moisture on the brow Kings tcraed the glebe, once Israel's own; And on EHsha, at the plough, The mantle of the seer was thrown. What stO4y cf fhe Golden Age In tender-ness, descriptive truth, Compares with that inspired page That teJ's rs of the gleaner, Ruth ? And imr^ery that most delights, The past unfolding to the view, The Royal Bard from rural sights . And prst?rul scenes of beauty drew. vm. "The ea He on a thousand hills" In Palestine we see again; Chime wi^i his Terse the singing rills, "The early and the latter rain." Theme for his minstrelsy divine Were brooks through fertile fields that ran— " The bread that strengthens, and the wise Tb>t maketh glad the heart of man." In cities where the mildewed den Of want yawns near the halls of Pride Are cradled not illustrious men To duty true, in danger tried. IX. In haunts remote from scenes like these Are nobler spirits nursed, that tower, lake pirns above the smaller trees, Unwarped by creed, unspoiled by power. Far from the tumult of the town Loved m::ghty Webster to retire, And %t3k, forgetful of renown, Field* wlere he labored with his Sire: Or, freed from care, he loved to dwell At Mawhfield by tbe sounding main, Where low of line, and pastoral bell Disposed to calm his troubled brain. z. And clay, in country costume drest, Sick of Corruption's wild misrule, On his plantation in the West, Felt like au urchin loose from school; And Wright, stern Cato of the State, Whose honored grave is holy ground, Towered in the Hall of high debate, With face &ad hands by toil embrowned. Well were these famous men aware That impure Agrioulture gave To human progress everywhere, On solid land and rolling ware. XI. First among those that fetters break, And with fierce Wrong in conflict close, Are heroes, country-bred, that make The deiert blossom like the rose; And among children ot renown, Home scenes forsaking in the strife, Forget not Wordsworth who laid dowa For God and liberty his life. A martyred patriot, the blaze Of fame like his can ne'er grow dim; These uplands crowned with purple hue, This glorious valley, speak of him. **• .;# Sad exiles from their garden fair, While flashed behind the flaming sword, Our great Fii-it Parents did not dare To dream of Paradise restored ; But Eavth can boast of many a spot Bedebmed by ministry and skill From wastes where roses harbored not, That have a. smile of Eden still; The bellows would no longer blow, . The hammer clash, the anvil ring, If culture should forget to sow

sni. Great men, by skill in arts and arms, Have been ennobled by the State; But lords of cultivated farms, Have patents of an older date. And should untilled their acres lay Unto itself would wealth take wing; The ship lie rotting in the bay, In thoroughfares the grass upspring. Barbaric night once more will reign Where golden crops are gathered now. If men throughout our broad domain, Forget ? in Sloth, to speed the plough. — W. 3. C. Bosmer, in Neio Yorlc Tribune.