Page:The Poets and Poetry of the West.djvu/566

 HELEN LOUISA BOSTWICK. No woman poet of our country, as the writer of this notice thinks, has surpassed Mrs. Bostwick in those graces of thoughts and style which distinguish her poems. Her choice of words is extremely felicitous ; her rhyme is rich and full ; her verse is always sweet and harmonious. While there is a certain warmth of color in her style that approaches sensuousness, her thought is delicate and womanly. She is sufficient- ly versatile, but most of her effusions have been called forth by those dear little com- mon incidents of life which women are peculiarly gifted to invest with poetry. I be- stow upon Mrs. Bostwick a sincere praise that need not waste itself in compliment. Her poems betray study of the best authors of our language, without being the less original. If her faculty does not amount to genius, it is at least transcendent talent. She was born in Charleston, New Hampshire, in 1826, and was married in Ohio in 1844 ; her present residence is at Ravenna, Portage county, Ohio. In girlhood she received the portion with which New England endows all her children — a common school education — with an academic course under Rev. A. A. Miner, of Boston. I forgive myself readily for quoting what she so gracefully says of herself, in a let- ter to the editor of the present volume : Though I belong to the West, love it, appreciate it, and glory in it, and have no interest else- where, yet I believe that whatever of poetry is in my nature had its origin and nurture among the hill-sides and valleys of my New England home. Nestled close at the foot of old Asentney, with the Connecticut upon one hand, and upon the other the wild hills with their jutting ribs and spines of granite, among which my feet even now could track out familiar pathways — was my birth- place and home for twelve years. In 1838 my father removed to Ohio, and is living, with my mother, near Ravenna. My life has been so emphatically a " still life," that I cannot conceive how any sketch of it could be of interest to any person outside the circle of friends. The little of incident that has di- versified it has been of the quietest description, and all of excitement that has disturbed it has been among the under-cm-rents, not upon the surface. I have no story to tell. Mrs. Bostwick, though not the author of any volume, has long been a favorite con- tributor of literary journals, among which we can mention the National Era, Ohio Farmer, New York Independent, Home Journal, Saturday Evening Post, and the Home Monthly, New Yoi'k. It is hoped that it will not be long till she gives to the world a bouquet of those flowers which have made her name so fragrant. She has written charmily for children, those little stories which few write success- fully. A volume of these she has collected, which will be published during the com- ing Autumn by Follett, Foster & Company. ( 550 )