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IX.

I boast no song in magic wonders rife,
But yet, oh Nature! is there nought to prize,
Familiar in thy bosom-scenes of life?

And dwells in daylight truth's salubrious skies
No form with which the soul may sympathise?
Young, innocent, on whose sweet forehead mild
The parted ringlet shone in 'simplest guise,
An inmate in the home of Albert smil'd,
Or blest his noonday walk-she was his only child.

X.

The rose of England bloom'd on Gertrude's cheek-
What though these shades had seen her birth, her
A Briton's independence taught to seek [sire
Far western worlds; and there his household fire
The light of social love did long inspire,
And many a halcyon day he liv'd to see
Unbroken, but by one misfortune dire,
When fate had reft his mutual heart-but she
Was gone-and Gertrude climb'd a widow'd fa-
ther's knee.

XI.

A lov'd bequest, and I may half impart,
To them that feel the strong paternal tie,
How like a new existence to his heart
That living flow'r uprose beneath his eye,
Dear as she was, from cherub infancy,
From hours when she would round his garden play;
To time when as the rip'ning years went by,
Her lovely mind could culture well repay,
And more engaging grew, from pleasing day to day.

XII.

I may not paint those thousand infant charms; (Unconscious fascination, undesign'd!) The orison repeated in his arms, For God to bless her sire and all mankind; The book, the bosom on his knee reclin'd, Or how sweet fairy-lore he heard her con, (The playmate ere the teacher of her mind:) All uncompanion'd else her years had gone, Till now in Gertrude's eyes their ninth blue summer shone.

XIII.

And summer was the tide, and sweet the hour,
When sire and daughter saw, with fleet descent,
An Indian from his bark approach their bow'r,
Of buskin'd limb, and swarthy lineament;
The red wild feathers on his brow were blent,
And bracelets bound the arm that help'd to light
A boy, who seem'd, as he beside him went,
Of Christian vesture, and complexion bright,
Led by his dusky guide, like morning brought by
night.

XIV.

Yet pensive seem'd the boy for one so youngThe dimple from his polish'd cheek had fled; When, leaning on his forest-bow unstrung,

Th' Oneyda warrior to the planter said, And laid his hand upon the stripling's head: 'Peace be to thee! my words this belt approve; "The paths of peace my steps have hither led: This little nursling, take him to thy love, 'And shield the bird unfledg'd, since gone the parent dove.

XV.

'Christian! I am the foeman of thy foe;

'Our wampum league thy brethren did embrace: Upon the Michagan, three moons ago,

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'We launch'd our pirogues for the bison chace, And with the Hurons planted for a space,

• With true and faithful hands, the olive stalk; 'But snakes are in the bosoms of their race,

And though they held with us a friendly talk, 'The hollow peace-tree fell beneath their tomahawk! XVI.

"It was encamping on the lake's far port, 'A cry of Areouski broke our sleep, 'Where storm'd an ambush'd foe thy nation's fort, • And rapid, rapid whoops came o'er the deep;

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< To one that will remember us of yore,

< When he beholds the ring that Waldegrave's Julia XX.

And I, the eagle of my tribe, have rush'd "With this lorn dove.'—A sage's self-command Had quell'd the tears from Albert's heart that gush'd; But yet his cheek—his agitated handThat shower'd upon the stranger of the land No common boon, in grief but ill beguil'd A soul that was not wont to be unmann'd ;

And stay,' he cried, ' dear pilgrim of the wild! • Preserver of my old, my boon companion's child!— XXI.

"Child of a race whose name my bosom warms, 'On earth's remotest bounds how welcome here! "Whose mother oft, a child, has fill'd these arms, • Young as thyself, and innocently dear,

Whose grandsire was my early life's compeer. Ah happiest home of England's happy clime! "How beautiful ev'n now thy scenes appear, 'As in the noon and sunshine of my prime! [time! 'How gone like yesterday these thrice ten years of

XXII.

And, Julia! when thou wert like Gertrude now, Can I forget thee, fav'rite child of yore? Or thought I, in thy father's house when thou "Wert lightest hearted on his festive floor, And first of all his hospitable door,

To meet and kiss me at my journey's end; 'But where was I when Waldegrave was no more? And thou didst pale thy gentle head extend, In woes, that ev'n the tribe of desarts was thy friend!'

XXIII.

He said and strain'd unto his heart the boy:
Far differently the mute Oneyda took
His calumet of peace, and cup of joy;
As monumental bronze unchang'd his look:
A soul that pity touch'd, but never shook :
Train'd, from his tree-rock'd cradle to his bier,
The fierce extremes of good and ill to brook
Impassive-fearing but the shame of fear-
A stoic of the woods-a man without a tear.

XXIV.

Yet deem not goodness on the savage stock
Of Outalissi's heart disdain'd to grow;
As lives the oak unwither'd on the rock
By storms above, and barrenness below:
He scorn'd his own, who felt another's woe:
And ere the wolf-skin on his back he flung,
Or lac'd his mocasins, in act to go,
A song of parting to the boy he sung, [tongue.
Who slept on Albert's couch, nor heard his friendly
XXV.

'Sleep, wearied one! and in the dreaming land • Shouldst thou tomorrow with thy mother meet,

'Oh! tell her spirit, that the white man's hand?
'Hath pluck'd the thorns of sorrow from thy feet;
While I in lonely wilderness shall greet
Thy little foot prints-or by traces know
The fountain, where at noon I thought it sweet
To feed thee with the quarry of my bow, [roe.
And pour'd the lotus-horn, or slew the mountain
XXVI.

Adieu! sweet scion of the rising sun! 'But should affliction's storms thy blossom mock, 'Then come again—my own adopted one! 'And I will graft thee on a noble stock: The crocodile, the condor of the rock, 'Shall be the pastime of thy sylvan wars; 'And I will teach thee, in the battle's shock, • To pay with Huron blood thy father's scars, 'And gratulate his soul rejoicing in the stars!' XXVII.

So finish'd he the rhyme (howe'er uncouth)
That true to nature's fervid feelings ran;
(And song is but the eloquence of truth :)
Then forth uprose that lone way-faring man ;
But dauntless he, nor chart, nor journey's plan
In woods requir'd, whose trained eye was keen
As eagle of the wilderness, to scan

His path, by mountain, swamp, or deep ravine,
Or ken far friendly huts on good savannas green.

XXVIII.

Old Albert saw him from the valley's side-
His pirogue launch'd-his pilgrimage begun-
Far, like the red-bird's wing he seem'd to glide;
Then div'd, and vanish'd in the woodlands dun.
Oft, to that spot by tender memory won,
Would Albert climb the promontory's height,
If but a dim sail glimmer'd in the sun;
But never more, to bless his longing sight,
Was Outalissi hail'd, with bark and plumage bright.

PART II. I.

A valley from the river shore withdrawn
Was Albert's home, two quiet woods between,
Whose lofty verdure overlook'd his lawn ;
And waters to their resting place serene
Came fresh'ning, and reflecting all the scene:
(A mirror in the depth of flowery shelves;)
So sweet a spot of earth, you might, (I ween)
Have guess'd some congregation of the elves
To sport by summer moons, had shap'd it for them-
selves.

II.

Yet wanted not the eye far scope to muse,
Nor vistas open'd by the wand'ring stream;
Both where at evening Allegany views,
Through ridges burning in her western beam,
Lake after lake interminably gleam:

And past those settlers' haunts the eye might roam,

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Breath'd but an air of heav'n, and all the grove
As if with instinct living spirit grew,
Rolling its verdant gulphs of every hue;
And now suspended was the pleasing din,
Now from a murmur faint it swell'd anew,
Like the first note of organ heard within
Cathedral aisles,-ere yet its symphony begin.
XI.

It was in this lone valley she would charm
The ling'ring noon, where flow'rs a couch had
Her cheek reclining, and her snowy arm [strewn;
On hillock by the palm-tree half o'ergrown:
And aye that volume on her lap is thrown,
Which every heart of human mould endears;
With Shakspeare's self she speaks and smiles alone,
And no intruding visitation fears,
[tears.
To shame th' unconscious laugh, or stop her sweetest

XII.

And nought within the grove was seen or heard
But stock-doves plaining through its gloom profound,
Or winglet of the fairy humming bird,
Like atoms of the rainbow fluttering round!
When lo! there enter'd to its inmost ground
A youth, the stranger of a distant land;
He was, to weet, for eastern mountains bound;
But late th' equator suns his cheek had tann'd,
And California's gales his roving bosom fann'd.

XIII.

A steed, whose rein hung loosely o'er his arm,
He led dismounted; ere his leisure pace,
Amid the brown leaves, could her ear alarm,
Close he had come, and worshipp'd for a space
Those downcast features:-she her lovely face
Uplift on one, whose lineaments and frame
Were youth and manhood's intermingled grace:
Iberian seem'd his boot-his robe the same,
And well the Spanish plume his lofty looks became.

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