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SARAH JOSEPHA HALE.

The wind rushes by, but its howl is unheard, 
Unfelt the sharp drift in his face; 
For bright through the tempest his own home appear'd—
Ay, though leagues intervened, he can see;
There's the clear, glowing hearth, and the table prepared,
And his wife with their babes at her knee.
Blest thought! how it lightens the grief-laden hour,
That those we love dearest are safe from its power.

"It snows!" cries the Belle — "Dear, how lucky!" and turns
From her mirror to watch the flakes fall;
Like the first rose of summer, her dimpled cheek burns,
While musing on sleigh-ride and ball:
There are visions of conquests, of splendour, and mirth,
Floating over each drear winter's day;
But the tintings of Hope, on this snow-beaten earth,
Will melt, like the snow-flakes, away:
Turn, turn thee to Heaven, fair maiden, for bliss,
That world has a pure fount ne'er open'd in this.

"It snows!" cries the Widow-"O God!" and her sighs
Have stifled the voice of her prayer;
Its burden ye'll read in her tear-swollen eyes,
On her cheek, sunk with fasting and care.
'T is night-and her fatherless ask her for bread—
But "He gives the young ravens their food,"
And she trusts, till her dark hearth adds horror to dread,
And she lays on her last chip of wood.
Poor suff'rer! that sorrow thy God only knows—
'T is a most bitter lot to be poor, when it snows!


MARIA JAMES

Was born in Wales, about the year 1795, and accompanied her parents to this country when she was seven years old.  They were a poor but pious and industrious couple, and took pains to implant in Maria’s mind that fear of God and love to man, which made her the conscientious, modest, and trustworthy person she really was.  They settled near the state quarries of Clinton, New York, which were worked chiefly by Welsh people.  After two years of schooling, Maria entered the family of Mrs. Garretson, of Rhinebeck, (widow of the late Rev. Freeborn Garretson, and sister to the Hon. Edward Livingston,) to be trained as a domestic, where she had many opportunities of improving herself, and was treated with the utmost kindness and attention.  Here she first attempted to give expression to the poetical thoughts that were awakened within; but shrank with instinctive modesty from the name of poet, which was bestowed on her by the family.  She remained until her seventeenth year with Mrs. Garretson, when she was sent to New York, to learn dress-making.  This did not agree with her, however; so she sought and filled for some time the situation of nurse in the family of Clement C. Moore, LL. D., of New York.  After an absence of eight or nine years, she returned to Rhinebeck, and proved “the dignity of serving” by her faithfulness and quiet zeal in the family of her beloved mistress. Her taste for intellectual pleasures never interfered with or spoiled the performance of her humble domestic duties; but while occupied in her daily housework, she composed her best pieces, though weeks would sometimes elapse before she committed them to paper.  Nearly all have been collected into a volume, called Wales and other Poems, which was published in 1839, with an able introduction by Dr. Potter; who says, “Some of the these pieces will be found, I trust, to breathe the true spirit of poetry; none will question that they breathe a yet nobler spirit, the spirit of true piety.”  Maria James is a striking illustration of the fact that true genius, refinement, and real worth, are often found in stations where we least expect them. 
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