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ANNA PEYRE DINNIES 

Is a native of Georgetown, South Carolina. Her father, Judge Shackleford, removed to Charleston when she was very young, ad there he was educated at an excellent seminary kept by the daughters of Dr. David Ramsay. In May 1830, she was married to Mr. John C. Dinnes, and went to St. Louis, Missouri, where she resided until about two years ago, when her husband removed to New Orleans. Few, if any, of her poems were published before her marriage; but since that event, she has written much for various annuals  and magazines under the name of Moina. Some of her best stories have appeared in the Lady's Book, (edited by Mrs. Hale,) and in the Southern Literary Messenger. In 1845, Mrs. Dinnies published a handsome volume of poetry, called The Floral Year, which is beautifully illustrated, and contains many bright blossoms of fancy, and many everlasting flowers of pure and earnest feeling. It is from the heart she gains her strongest inspiration; and when the holy affection living there breathes itself out in fervent lays, as if urged by a strong necessity, there is a simple pathos in the music of her lyre that awakens an immediate sympathy. There is also a spirit of cheerfulness and hope about her poems that makes them very refreshing; a tone of quiet content that seems to indicate a mind at peace with itself, with the world, and with God.

HAPPINESS.
 
Happiness is of the heart, and it is the mind that gives its tone and colouring to nature. 

THERE is a spell in every flower- 
  A sweetness on each spray, 
And every simple bird has power 
  To please me with its lay!
                               (350)


ANNA PEYRE DENNIES.         351

And there is music on each breeze
  That sports along the glade; 
The crystal dew-drops on the trees 
  Are gems, by Fancy made.

There's gladness too in every thing,
  And beauty over all, 
For everywhere comes on, with Spring,
  A charm which cannot pall!

And I!- my heart is full of joy, 
  And gratitude is there, 
That He, who might my life destroy, 
  Has yet vouchsafed to spare.

The friends I once condemn'd, are now 
  Affectionate and true; 
I wept a pledged one's broken vow- 
  But he proves faithful too. 

And now there is a happiness 
  In everything I see, 
Which bids my soul to rise up and bless 
  The God who blesses me.


LINES

ADDRESSED TO A WHITE CHRYSANTHEMUM, PRESENTED TO THE WRITER IN DECEMBER.

Fair gift of friendship, and her ever bright
  And faultless image! Welcome now thou art
In thy pure loveliness, thy robes of white
  Speaking a moral to the feeling heart;
Unscathed by heat, by wintry blasts unmoved,
Thy strength thus tested, and thy charms improved.

Transcription Notes:
---------- Reopened for Editing 2023-06-29 15:17:41