THE MOCKING-BIRD

JOSEPH RODMAN DRAKE

JOSEPH RODMAN DRAKE (1795-1820), an American poet, was a native of New York. His brief life gave promise of high poetic attainment. He was a warm friend of Fitz-Greene Halleck, and the two friends worked in literary partnership for a time. When 5 Drake died Halleck wrote the well-known elegy, beginning:

Green be the turf above thee,

Friend of my better days!

None knew thee but to love thee,
Nor named thee but to praise.

Early on a pleasant day,
In the poet's month of May,
Field and forest looked so fair,
So refreshing was the air,

That, in spite of morning dew,
Forth I walked where tangling grew

Many a thorn and breezy bush ;
When the redbreast and the thrush

Gayly raised their early lay,
Thankful for returning day.

Every thicket, bush, and tree
Swelled the grateful harmony:
As it mildly swept along,
Echo seemed to catch the song;

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But the plain was wide and clear,
Echo never whispered near.
From a neighboring mocking-bird
Came the answering notes I heard.

Soft and low the song began:
I scarcely caught it as it ran
Through the melancholy trill
Of the plaintive whip-poor-will, -
Through the ringdove's gentle wail,
Chattering jay and whistling quail,
Sparrow's twitter, catbird's cry,
Redbird's whistle, robin's sigh;
Blackbird, bluebird, swallow, lark,
Each his native note might mark.

Oft he tried the lesson o'er,

Each time louder than before;
Burst at length the finished song,-
Loud and clear it poured along;
All the choir in silence heard,

Hushed before this wondrous bird.
All transported and amazed,
Scarcely breathing, long I gazed.

Now it reached the loudest swell
Lower, lower, now it fell,-.

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Lower, lower, lower, still,
Scarce it sounded o'er the rill.
Now the warbler ceased to sing;
Then he spread his russet wing,
And I saw him take his flight
Other regions to delight.

MADAM WASHINGTON AT THE PEACE

BALL

MARY VIRGINIA TERHUNE

MARY VIRGINIA TERHUNE (1830– ), better known by her pen name of Marion Harland, was born in Amelia County, Virginia. She began to write for the press at the age of fourteen. 10 She conducted the magazine Babyhood for two years, and has conducted departments of the magazines Wide Awake and St. Nicholas. She is now on the staff of the Chicago Daily News.

Mrs. Terhune has written extensively on household science and allied subjects. Her Story of Mary Washington, from which 15 the following account of the Peace Ball is taken, was written in order to aid in raising funds to put up at Fredericksburg, Virginia, a monument to the mother of George Washington.

Madam Washington's only public appearance as a hero's mother was at the Peace Ball given in 20 Fredericksburg during the visit of Washington to that town. With all her majestic self-command she did not disguise the pleasure with which she received the special request of the managers that she would

honor the occasion with her presence. There was even a happy flutter in the playful rejoinder that "her dancing days were pretty well over, but that if her coming would contribute to the general pleasure she would attend."

... A path was opened from the foot to the top of the hall as they appeared in the doorway, and

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"every head was bowed in reverence." It must have been the proudest moment of her life, but she bore herself with perfect composure then and 10 after her son, seating her in an armchair upon the dais reserved for distinguished guests, faced the crowd in prideful expectancy that all his friends

would seek to know his mother. She had entered the hall at eight o'clock, and for two hours held court, the most distinguished people there pressing eagerly forward to be presented to her. . . . From 5 her slightly elevated position she could, without rising, overlook the floor, and watched with quiet pleasure the dancers, among them the kingly figure of the Commander-in-Chief, who led a Fredericksburg matron through a minuet.

10 At ten o'clock she signed to him to approach, and rose to take his arm, saying in her clear, soft voice, "Come, George; it is time for old folks to be at home." Smiling a good night to all, she walked down the room, as erect in form and as 15 steady in gait as any dancer there.

One of the French officers exclaimed aloud, as she disappeared, "If such are the matrons of America, she may well boast of illustrious sons."

Lafayette's report of his interview to his friends 20 at Mount Vernon was: "I have seen the only Roman matron living at this day."

rejoinder reply.-dais (da'Is): a platform raised above the floor. illustrious: distinguished.