Page:The Poets and Poetry of the West.djvu/479

 WILLIAM E. GILMORE. William Edward Giljiore was born at Chillicothe, Ohio, November third, 1824. He is the eldest son of William Y. and Mary Tiffin Gilmore. He graduated at Lane Seminary, near Cincinnati, in 1846, and in December of that year, while reading law with Oliver Spencer and Richard M. Corwine, was mai'ried to Amanda, daughter of Samuel and Martha Betts, of that city. He began the practice of law in Chillicothe, in 1849, and is now a prominent member of the Ross county bar. Mr. Gilmore was a contributor to the Western Quarterly Review, published at Cincinnati in 1849, and has since written for Graham's Magazine, Godey's Lady's Booh, the Na- tional Era, the Scioto Gazette, and the Genius of the West. In 1854 and 1855 he was editor and proprietor of the Ancient Metropolis, a daily and weekly newspaper at Chillicothe, which has since been discontinued. DESTRUCTION OF THE PRIESTHOOD OF BAAL, The rismg sun with level rays of light With glory crowns Mt. Carmel's rocky height. * The wreathed mists collected dense below. In gorgeous hues of gold and purple glow ; While lower yet upon its slopes are seen Wide-circling groves of cedars, darkly green ; And 'midst their verdure, gleaming here and there. The leaping mountain streams like silver bauds appear. Hark! on the air, in wild concordance rise From Carmel's base, a thousand mingled cries ; With rolling cymbals, and the hai*p's shrill twang, The whistling pipes, and brazen trumpets' clan":. Lo ! like an army comes a countless throng With measured tramp, the winding way along. And flaunting banners proudly wave above Exulting Priests of Baal and Prophets of the Grove, A single palm-tree, near a basined spring, Towers o'er the scattered cedars, like a king. Hither they come; and soon beneath it rise An ivory throne, and tent of Tyrian dyes. Through opening ranks stalks Ahab to his seat. And bursting shouts the son of Omri greet. He waves his hand, and every voice is still. And every ear attent to learn the royal will. "Ye Priests of mighty Baal — before whose shrine Samaria owns her deity, and mine — (463)