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LITERARY.
THE FAMILY CIRCLE, &c. — BOSTON: GOULD KENDALL AND LINCOLN. — This is a good little book, designed to cherish affections. It can have no other influence.
FLOWERS FOR CHILDREN. — BY MRS. CHILD. — NEW YORK: C. S. FRANCIS & CO. — An infant's book has high uses. The far-sighted and generous mind that embraces the welfare of every creature, is worthily in feeding the opening intellect. Mrs. Child's sentiments and talents never find more suitable exercise than in catering to the young reader; and this is a successful effort to entertain and instruct such.
The poems of the Kentucky Sappho, AMELIA, have been published in a very elegant gift-book volume, by Tompkins, of Boston. We have expressed our almost unqualified admiration of this lady's poems, as they separately appeared. She has a mind fed equally from a full heart and a prodigal imagination.
It was once remarked to us, by a critic as candid as he is discerning, that there is a great development of the poetic sentiment in this country; that many of our collections, which, in their brief existence, resemble the flowers that seem to be born only to die, like those delicate, odorous, and lovely objects in nature, have often a character of sweetness, purity, and freshness, grateful to refined taste and a feeling heart. The pieces contained in this volume are worthy of such praise. A loving heart, and a soul in harmony with the beauty of the world and the divine spirit which informs it, dictated these poems.
We might make many beautiful selections from this handsome volume; but we must content ourselves, for the present, with naming one, “The Little Stepson,” which, in its earnest simplicity, and its ringing music, reminds us of that favorite translation, “My ear-rings my ear-rings they’ve dropped into the well!” Not merely that the measure is the same, but that the whole tone seems the echo of far off and primitive manners — the voice of untutored affection.
THE LITTLE STEP-SON.
I have a little step-son, the loveliest thing alive,
A noble sturdy boy is he, and yet he's only five;
His smooth cheek hath a blooming glow his eyes are black as jet,
And his lips are like two rose-buds, all tremulous and wet;
His days pass off in sunshine, in laughter, and in song,
As careless as a summer rill, that sings itself along;
For like a pretty fairy tale, that's all too quickly told,
Is the young life of a little one, that's only five years old.
He's dreaming on his happy couch, before the day grows dark,
He's up with morning's rosy ray, a-singing with the lark;
Where’er the flowers are freshest, where’er the grass is green,
With light locks waving on the wind, his fairy form is seen,
Amid the whistling March winds, amid the April showers;
He warbles with the singing-birds, and blossoms with the flowers.
He cares not for the summer heat, he cares not for the cold,
My sturdy little step-son, that's only five years old.
How touching ‘tis to see him clasp his dimpled hands in prayer,
And raise his little rosy face with reverential air!
How simple in his eloquence! how soft his accents fall,
When pleading with the King of kings, to love and ftess us all;
And when from prayer he bounds away in innocence and joy,
The blessing of a smiling God goes with the sinless boy.
A little lambkin of the flock, within the Saviour's fold
Is he my lovely step-son, that's only five years old.
I have not told you of our home, that in the summer hours,
Stands in its simple modesty, half hid among the flowers;
I have not said n single word about our mines of wealth —
Our treasures are this little boy, contentment, peace and health.
For even a lordly hall to us would be a voiceless place,
Without the gush of his glad voice, the gleams of his bright luce.
And many a courtly pair, I ween, would give their gems and gold
For a noble, happy boy like ours, some four or five years old.
We only give this as our favorite. Many others in the collection might better endure the test of critical vinegar.
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Notes:
This review was specifically rejected as being by Poe by W. D. Hull.
Amelia, of Kentucky, was Amelia Ball Coppuck Welby (1819-1852).
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[S:0 - NYEM, 1844] - Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore - Works - Criticism - Literary (Willis ?, 1844)