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428  AMANDA M. EDMOND.

And the earnest voice of the katydid
Responds from the turf below.

O! tell me not of the loneliness
Of the wood, nor call it drear,
For a thousand, thousand living things
To gladden its depths are here.

Some pass me by on their pinions light,
Through the trackless realms of air,
And some repose on the bending flower,
Their couch in its blossoms fair.

Some hide in the twisted, grass-grown roots
Of the lofty oak or pine;
And some in the bark of the old fir trees,
Which the ivy tendrils twine.

And the answering echoes of my soul
Go forth at each joyous tone,
Which the humblest, tiniest creature pours
In a language all its own.

O! greenwood depths! ye are beautiful
In the summer evening hour,
And this wondering soul of mine ye thrill
With a strange enchanting power.

Nay, tell me not of the crowded halls,
They are solitude to me;
And the sweetest notes of the harp are nought
To the tones of nature free.

HARRIETTE FANNING READ.

MISS READ was born at Jamaica Plains, near Boston.  Her father, who died when she was very young, was a bookseller and publisher, and a man of much intelligence and refined taste.  Her mother's father was an officer in the British army, and distinguished himself at the battle of Camden in the Revolutionary war, where his gallantry turned the tide of success from the American to the British side, for which he received the thanks of Lord Rawdon at the head of the troops.  The family were of Irish extraction, and came to this country during the disturbances in Ireland under Cromwell.

Lady Morgan, in her notes to The Wild Irish Girl, says that the last of the true Irish bards of those who were poets and harpers was a Fanning.  A predilection for war and song has run through the race.

Miss Read's parents were both very desirous that their daughter should be a literary woman; and nature seemed to second their views.  At four years of age she had read Guy Mannering, at five had made good progress in the study of Latin, and at eight showed a decided taste for poetry.  On her mother's removal to Boston, she was placed at school under the charge of Mr. E. Bailey, but did not remain there long on account of ill health.  She then went to Washington to gain strength, and as her uncle, Colonel Fanning, had been recently married, she and her mother became members of his household.  They then lived the life of soldiers, changing from one military post to another, until the frequency of these changes made them anxious for a more permanent home, and they again went to Washington.  Here, and at a neighbouring village in Maryland, they resided until the death of Colonel Fanning, which occurred two years since.  They now live in New York.

In October, 1847, Miss Read published a volume of Dramatic Poems; Medea, Erminia, and The New World.  They are written with classic taste, and a masculine strength of expression.  In February, 1848, she made her débût as an actress at the Boston theatre; since which she has performed an engagement at Washington.  As the critics in both cities have pronounced that she has the materiel requisite for the stage, she has determined to improve and develope her histrionic talent.

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