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GEORGE HENRY BOKER.—THOMAS WENTWORTH HIGGINSON.

George Henry Boker.

AMERICAN.

Boker, born in Philadelphia in 1823, was graduated at Princeton College, N. J., in 1842. He travelled in Europe, and, returning home, published in 1847 his first volume of poems. In 1848 he produced "Calaynos, a Tragedy"—played with success in the United States and in England. He wrote other plays, showing fine dramatic talent; and in 1870 published his "Plays and Poems," in two volumes. In 1871 he was sent United States Minister to Constantinople by President Grant; a post which he resigned in 1877.

DIRGE FOR A SOLDIER.

IN MEMORY OF GENERAL PHILIP KEARNEY, KILLED SEPTEMBER 1, 1862.

Close his eyes; his work is done!
What to him is friend or foeman,

Rise of moon, or set of sun,

Hand of man, or kiss of woman?

Lay him low, lay him low,
In the clover or the snow!
What cares he? he cannot know:
Lay him low!

As man may, he fought his fight,
Proved his truth by his endeavor;
Let him sleep in solemn night,
Sleep forever and forever;

Lay him low, lay him low,
In the clover or the snow;
What cares he? he cannot know:
Lay him low!

Fold him in his country's stars,

Roll the drum and fire the volley!
What to him are all our wars,
What but death-bemocking folly?

Lay him low, lay him low,
In the clover or the snow!
What cares he? he cannot know:
Lay him low!

Leave him to God's watching eye,

Trust him to the hand that made him.

Mortal love weeps idly by:

God alone has power to aid him.

Lay him low, lay him low,

In the clover or the snow!

What cares he? he cannot know:

Lay him low!

Thomas Wentworth Higginson.

AMERICAN.

791

Born in Cambridge, Mass., in 1823, Higginson was graduated at the College in 1841. He studied theology, and was settled as pastor in Newburyport in 1847, and in Worcester from 1852 to 1858. When the Civil War broke out he gave up preaching, and was appointed colonel of the first black regiment raised in South Carolina. Having been wounded, he was discharged for disability, October, 1864. He has since resided at Newport, R. I., or at Cambridge. He is the author of "Out-door Papers" (1863); "Malbone, an Oldport Romance" (1869); "Army Life in a Black Regiment" (1870); "Atlantic Essays" (1871); "Harvard Memorial Biographies;" "History of the United States for Schools," etc. His prose style is fresh, graceful, and compact; and his poem "Decoration" establishes his claim as a poet. The poem, entitled "Gifts," which we append, is from the pen of his wife, Mary Thacher Higginson, daughter of Peter and Margaret (Potter) Thacher of West Newton, Mass.

"I WILL ARISE, AND GO TO MY FATHER."

To thine eternal arms, O God,

Take us, thine erring children, in ;

From dangerous paths too boldly trod,

From wandering thoughts and dreams of sin.

Those arms were round our childish ways, A guard through helpless years to be;

Oh, leave not our maturer days,-

We still are helpless without thee!

We trusted hope and pride and strength;
Our strength proved false, our pride was vain;
Our dreams have faded all at length,-

We come to thee, O Lord, again!

A guide to trembling steps yet be!
Give us of thine eternal powers!
So shall our paths all lead to thee,
And life smile on, like childhood's hours.

GIFTS.

A flawless pearl, snatched from an ocean cave
Remote from light or air,

And by the mad caress of stormy wave
Made but more pure and fair;

A diamond, wrested from earth's hidden zone, To whose recesses deep

It clung, and bravely flashed a light that shone Where dusky shadows creep;

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