And they who search the untrodden wood for flowers
Meet in its depths no lovelier ones than ours.

For here are eyes that shame the violet,
Or the dark drop that on the pansy lies,
And foreheads, white, as when in clusters set,
The anemones by forest fountains rise;
And the spring-beauty boasts no tenderer streak
Than the soft red on many a youthful cheek.

*

Soft voices and light laughter wake the street,

Like notes of woodbirds, and where'er the eye Threads the long way, plumes wave, and twinkling feet Fall light, as hastes that crowd of beauty by. The ostrich, hurrying o'er the desert space, Scarce bore those tossing plumes with fleeter pace.

No swimming Juno-gait, of languor born,

Is theirs, but a light step of freest grace, Light as Camilla's o'er the unbent corn,

A step that speaks the spirit of the place, Since Quiet, meek old dame, was driven away To Sing-Sing and the shores of Tappan bay.

*

William Cullen Bryant.

NITY of ships!

CITY

THE CITY OF SHIPS.

(O the black ships! O the fierce ships!

O the beautiful, sharp-bowed steam-ships and sail-ships!) City of the world! (for all races are here;

All the lands of the earth make contributions here ;) City of the sea! city of hurried and glittering tides! City whose gleeful tides continually rush or recede, whirling in and out, with eddies and foam! City of wharves and stores! city of tall façades of marble and iron!

Proud and passionate city! mettlesome, mad, extrava

gant city!

Walt Whitman.

BUT

NEW YORK.

UT see! the broadening river deeper flows, Its tribute floods intent to reach the sea, While, from the west, the fading sunlight throws Its softening hues on stream, and field, and tree; All silent nature bathing, wondrously,

In charms that soothe the heart with sweet desires,
And thoughts of friends we ne'er again may see,
Till lo! ahead, Manhatta's bristling spires,
Above her thousand roofs red with day's dying fires,

May greet the wanderer of Columbia's shore,
Proud Venice of the west! no lovelier scene.
Of thy vast throngs now faintly comes the roar,
Though late like beating ocean surf I ween,
And everywhere thy various barks are seen,
Cleaving the limpid floods that round thee flow,
Encircled by thy banks of sunny green,

The panting steamer plying to and fro,

Or the tall sea-bound ship abroad on wings of snow. Theodore Sedgwick Fay.

UNSEEN SPIRITS.

HE shadows lay along Broadway, "T was near the twilight tide, And slowly there a lady fair

Was walking in her pride.
Alone walked she; but, viewlessly,
Walked spirits at her side.

Peace charmed the street beneath her feet,
And Honor charmed the air,

And all astir looked kind on her,

And called her good as fair;
For all God ever gave to her
She kept with chary care.

She kept with care her beauties rare
From lovers warm and true;

For her heart was cold to all but gold,
And the rich came not to woo:
But honored well are charms to sell,
If priests the selling do.

Now walking there was one more fair,

A slight girl, lily-pale;

And she had unseen company

To make the spirit quail:

'Twixt Want and Scorn she walked forlorn,

And nothing could avail.

No mercy now can clear her brow

For this world's peace to pray;

For, as love's wild prayer dissolved in air,
Her woman's heart gave way!

But the sin forgiven by Christ in heaven,
By man is cursed alway.

Nathaniel Parker Willis,

ΟΝ

BROADWAY.

this day of brightest dawning,
Underneath each spreading awning,
Sheltered from the sun's fierce ray,
Come, and let us saunter gayly
With the crowd whose footsteps, daily,
Wear the sidewalks of Broadway.

Leave the proof-sheets and the printer
Till the duller days of winter,
Till some dark December day;
Better than your lucubrations
Are the vivid inspirations

You can gather in Broadway!

Tell me not, in half-derision,
Of your Boulevards Parisian,
With their brilliant broad pavés,
Still for us the best is nearest,

And the last love is the dearest,

And the Queen of Streets - Broadway!

Here, beneath bewitching bonnets,
Sparkle eyes to kindle sonnets,

Charms, each worth a lyric lay;