Page:The Poets and Poetry of the West.djvu/378

 362 PHCEBE GARY. [1840-50. Such things, through days of labor, And nights devoid of ease, For sad and desperate feelings, Are wondeiful remedies. They have an astonishing power To aid and re-enforce, And come like the " Finally, brethren," That follows a long discourse. Then get me a tender sirloin From off the bench or hook. And lend to its sterling goodness The science of the cook. And the night shall be filled with comfort, And the cares with which it begun Shall fold up their blankets like Indians, And silently cut and run. "WHEN LOVELY WOMAN." When lovely woman wants a favor, And finds, too late, that man wont bend, What earthly circumstance can save her From disappointment in the end ? The only way to bring him over, The last experiment to try. Whether a huslxxnd or a lover, If he have feeling, is, to cry ! THE WIFE. Hkr washing ended with the day, Yet lived she at its close, And passed the long, long night away, In darning ragged hose. But vrhen the sun in all its state Illumed the eastern skies, She passed about the kitchen grate, And went to making pies. Miss Gary has jaublished no volume since 1854, but has continued to write for our best magazines and wetkly journals. She is one of those poets who, while their con- tributions do not create particular remark, still are ever welcome and popular. It is to be hoped that she will gather her later poems in the more readable and permanent form of a book. Such a volume would serve to give her distinctive position among our poets of sentiment and fancy. Of the poet, a critic who knoAvs her well, writes: — "Phoebe Gary is a delightful and a genial friend. She has in her nature a vein of sunny philosophy, — such a genius for seeing the world, and the people in it, in such a pleasant light, that one grows better and happier in her presence. These qualities, combined with a deep religious faith, which finds its unwavering center in the promises of God, make her a harmonious and happy woman. Instead of being frightful with wrinkles, she is radi- ant with dimples — has jet-black hair and eyes, and lights up gloi'iously. Slie has written many tenderly beautiful things. Her poetry, though possessing some of the characteristics of that of Alice, has a marked individuality of its own." The extracts which follow, are chosen without particular care from those poems within our reach. They are such as almost weekly fall from her pen, and, we beheve, such as will serve to show the poet's powers in their most truthful light.