About the same time, in a letter to a friend, in which she makes mention of her Southern home, she gives so close a reproduction from a poem by one of her favourite authors that I will give extracts from Helen's letter and from the poem itself:EXTRACTS FROM HELEN'S LETTER[The entire letter is published on pp. 245 and 246 of the Report of the Perkins Institution for 1891 ]FROM THE POEM ENTITLED "SPRING," BY OLIVER WENDELL HOLMESThe blue-bird with his azure plumes, the thrush clad all in brown, the robin jerking his spasmodic throat, the oriole drifting like a flake of fire, the jolly bobolink and his happy mate, the mocking-bird imitating the notes of all, the red-bird with his one sweet trill, and the busy little wren, are all making the trees in our front yard ring with their glad songs.The bluebird, breathing from his azure plumes,The fragrance borrowed fromthe myrtle blooms;The thrush, poor wanderer, dropping meekly down,Clad in his remnant of autumnal brown;The oriole, drifting like a flake of fireRent by a whirlwind from a blazing spire;The robin, jerking his spasmodic throat,Repeats imperious, his staccato note;The crack-brained bobolink, courts his crazy mate,Poised on a bullrush tipsy with his weight;Nay, in his cage, the lone canary sings, Feels the soft air, and spreads his idle wings.On the last day of April she uses another expression from the same poem, which is more an adaptation than a reproduction: "To-morrow April will hide her tears and blushes beneath the flowers of lovely May."
Clad Genius Crack Serial 14
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