Page:Over the river, and other poems.djvu/26

20 never consciously plagiarized a line, or borrowed an idea or an image. Her measure, also, was the vibration of her own exquisitely strung organization. A controversy which arose in regard to the originality of " Over the River " gave her great pain. The poem first appeared in "The Springfield Republican," August 22, 1857, when she was in her twenty-second year. The editor was in formed that the reputed author, " Lizzie Lincoln," had imposed upon him by sending him the production of another writer. When the question was put to her as to the originality of the poem, her reply was that she could not tell : " she only knew that she had written it." When the imputation of .untruthfulness and of literary piracy first came to her knowledge, she burst into tears, and " expressed regret that she had ever written a stanza." The editor of the Western paper who had started the accusation was obliged, on examination, to confess his mistake. The reputation of the author was vindicated ; but a wound had been inflicted which was never entirely healed. She could not be persuaded to enter upon a course of authorship, or even, except by strong persuasion, to write occasional pieces for the press.

The writer of these pages recalls a fact which fairly exhibits the extreme modesty of Miss Priest. In making preparation for the centennial celebration of the incorporation of the town of Winchendon in November,