"My goodness! what is it?" ses Miss Mary. "Oh, it's alive!" ses Miss Kesiah. "I seed it move." "Call Cato, and make him cut the rope," ses Miss Carline, "and let's see what it is. Come here, Cato, and get this bag down." "Don't hurt it for the world," ses Miss Mary. Cato untied the rope that was round the jice, and let the bag down easy on the floor, and I tumbled out, all covered with corn-meal from head to foot. "Goodness gracious!" ses Miss Mary, "if it ain't the Majer himself!" "Yes," ses I, "and you know you promised to keep my Crismus present as long as you lived." The galls laughed themselves almost to death, and went to brushin off the meal as fast as they could, sayin they was gwine to hang that bag up every Crismus till they got husbands too. Miss Mary-bless her bright eyes!—she blushed as beautiful as a mornin-glory, and sed she'd stick to her word. I do believe if I was froze stiff, one look at her sweet face, as she stood thar lookin down to the floor with her roguish eyes, and her bright curls fallin all over her snowy neck, would have fotched me to. I tell you what, it was worth hangin in a meal bag from one Crismus to another to feel as happy as I have ever sense. JAMES BARRON HOPE. JAMES BARRON HOPE was born near Norfolk, Virginia, educated at William and Mary College, and began the practice of law at Hampton. In 1857 he wrote the poem for the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the settle ment of Jamestown, and in 1858 an Ode for the dedication of the Washington Monument at Richmond. He also wrote poems for the "Southern Literary Messenger," as Henry Ellen. In 1861 he entered the Confederate service and fought through the war as captain. Afterwards he settled in Norfolk to the practice of his profession. His best poems are considered to be "Arms and the Man," and "Memorial Ode," the latter written for the laying of the corner-stone of the Lee Monument in Richmond, 1887, just before his death. A Metrical Address recited on the one hundredth anniversary of the surrender of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown, on invitation of the United States Congress, October 19, 1881. PROLOGUE. Full-burnished through the long-revolving years And we, like those who on the Trojan plain See hoary secrets wrenched from upturned sods;- The battle-cry of Gods; We now, this splendid scene before us spread * By permission of Mrs. Jane Barron Hope Marr. Here visions throng on People and on Bard, I see great Shapes in vague confusion march I see these Shapes before me all unfold, WASHINGTON AND LEE. (From Memorial Ode.) Our history is a shining sea Locked in by lofty land, And its great Pillars of Hercules, I here behold in majesty These Pillars of our history, The Father of his Country And matches him with Lee. JAMES WOOD DAVIDSON. 1829- JAMES WOOD DAVIDSON was born in Newberry County, South Carolina, and educated at South Carolina College, Columbia. He taught at Winnsboro and at Columbia until the opening of the war, when he enlisted as a volunteer in the Army of Northern Virginia, and served throughout the great struggle. After the war he taught again in Columbia till 1871. Then he removed to Washington and in 1873 to New York, where he engaged in literary and journalistic work. He has also lived in Florida and represented Dade County in the State Legislature. He is now living in Washington City. Dr. Davidson's "Living Writers of the South" has made his name well known as a critic and student of literature, and his labors in behalf of Southern letters entitle him to high regard. THE BEAUTIFUL AND THE POETICAL. (From Poetry of the Future.*) The relation between the Beautiful and Beauty on the one hand, and the Poetical and Poetry on the other, has generally been seen, when seen at all, vaguely; that is to say, seen as the Beautiful and the Poetical themselves have been seen-" in a mirror darkly." This indistinctness seems By permission of the author. to have grown out of the faulty views of nature taken by the speculators. In brief, then, Nature is an effect-a product-of a Power lying behind or above it; and it stands, accordingly, to that Power in the relation of an effect to a cause. That cause we shall describe as Spiritual; the effect, as Natural. The Natural, or Nature, is the material Universe embracing the three kingdoms, known as mineral, vegetable, and animal. Such being the case, everything in nature is a correspondent of some thing-is expressive of and consequently representative and exponential of something-above it or behind it; and that something is an idea—a thing not material. It follows, then, that every object in nature has real character in itself as a representative of an idea; just as, say, an anchor is representative of hope, a heart, of love, an olive branch, of peace, and a ring, of marriage. We next come to consider the percipient mind. Men's minds have limited and imperfect faculties and capabilities. That which is good, or true, or beautiful, to one mind can hardly be the same in the same way and degree to any other mind. It is true-as some writers have stated, but none seems willing to push the propositions to their legitimate conclusions that the Good and the Beautiful are true, the Beautiful and the True are good, and the True and the Good are beautiful. We wish to accept the propositions in their most comprehensive scope and with all their legitimate consequences. Let us note, at this point, the fact, obvious enough but generally overlooked, that in perception the result depends far more upon the percipient mind than upon the object perceived. To a ploughboy, a pebble is an insignificant thing, suggestive possibly of some discomfort in walking, |