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31 chapters
W. H. RHODES.
W. H. RHODES.
SAN FRANCISCO: A. L. BANCROFT AND COMPANY. 1876. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1876, B y SUSAN RHODES, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D.C. S an F rancisco: A. L. B ancroft and C ompany, printers and binders....
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PREFACE.
PREFACE.
The sketches and poems in this volume were written at a time when the author was engaged in the practice of a laborious profession. It was the intention of Mr. Rhodes to collect them from the various newspapers and periodicals in which they had appeared, and publish them in book-form whenever he could obtain a respite from his arduous duties. But before he carried out his long-cherished object he died, in the prime of his manhood and the ripeness of his literary life. Many of his poems were writ
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IN MEMORIAM.
IN MEMORIAM.
At the time when, according to custom, Mr. Rhodes's death was formally announced to the several Courts of Record in San Francisco, one of the learned Judges urged the publication of his writings in some form which would give the bar a permanent memorial of one of it's most esteemed members, and to them their proper place in American literature. This has been accomplished by the present volume. It is sincerely to be hoped that while it will largely add to Mr. Rhodes's reputation, it may also serv
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THE CASE OF SUMMERFIELD.
THE CASE OF SUMMERFIELD.
The following manuscript was found among the effects of the late Leonidas Parker, in relation to one Gregory Summerfield, or, as he was called at the time those singular events first attracted public notice, "The Man with a Secret." Parker was an eminent lawyer, a man of firm will, fond of dabbling in the occult sciences, but never allowing this tendency to interfere with the earnest practice of his profession. This astounding narrative is prefaced by the annexed clipping from the "Auburn Messen
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THE MERCHANT'S EXCHANGE.
THE MERCHANT'S EXCHANGE.
One summer eve, as homeward saunt'ring slowly, My toils and tasks for that day's business done; With thoughts composed, and aspirations holy, That heavenward rose, as downward sank the sun, I heard a throng, whose multitudinous voices Proclaimed some act of public weal begun....
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THE DESERTED SCHOOLHOUSE.
THE DESERTED SCHOOLHOUSE.
There is no silence like that sombre gloom which sometimes settles down upon the deserted playgrounds, the unoccupied benches, and the voiceless halls of an old schoolhouse. But if, in addition to abandonment, the fingers of decay have been busy with their work; if the moss has been permitted to grow, and the mould to gather; if the cobwebs cluster, like clouds, in all the corners, and the damp dust incrusts the window-panes like the frosts of a northern winter; if the old well has caved in, and
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FOR AN ALBUM.
FOR AN ALBUM.
When first our father, Adam, sinned Against the will of Heaven, And forth from Eden's happy gates A wanderer was driven, He paused beside a limpid brook, That through the garden ran, And, gazing in its mirrored wave, Beheld himself— a man!...
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PHASES IN THE LIFE OF JOHN POLLEXFEN.
PHASES IN THE LIFE OF JOHN POLLEXFEN.
PHASE THE FIRST. There are but three persons now living who can truthfully answer the question, "How did John Pollexfen, the photographer, make his fortune?" No confidence will be violated, now that he is dead, and his heirs residents of a foreign country, if I relate the story of that singular man, whose rapid accumulation of wealth astonished the whole circle of his acquaintance. Returning from the old man's funeral a few days since, the subject of Pollexfen's discoveries became the topic of c
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THE LOVE KNOT.
THE LOVE KNOT.
Upon my bosom lies A knot of blue and gray; You ask me why tears fill my eyes As low to you I say:...
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THE AZTEC PRINCESS.
THE AZTEC PRINCESS.
"Speaking marble."—B yron . CHAPTER I. In common with many of our countrymen, my attention has been powerfully drawn to the subject of American antiquities, ever since the publication of the wonderful discoveries made by Stephens and Norman Among the ruins of Uxmal and Palenque. Yucatan and Chiapas have always spoken to my imagination more forcibly than Egypt or Babylon; and in my early dreams of ambition I aspired to emulate the fame of Champollion le Jeune , and transmit my name to posterity o
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THE MOTHER'S EPISTLE.
THE MOTHER'S EPISTLE.
Sweet daughter, leave thy tasks and toys, Throw idle thoughts aside, And hearken to a mother's voice, That would thy footsteps guide; Though far across the rolling seas, Beyond the mountains blue, She sends her counsels on the breeze, And wafts her blessings too. I. II. III. IV. V....
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LEGENDS OF LAKE BIGLER.
LEGENDS OF LAKE BIGLER.
I.—THE HAUNTED ROCK. A great many years ago, ere the first white man had trodden the soil of the American continent, and before the palaces of Uxmal and Palenque were masses of shapeless ruins—whilst the splendid structures, now lining the banks of the Gila with broken columns and fallen domes were inhabited by a nobler race than the cowardly Pimos or the Ishmaelitish Apaches, there lived and flourished on opposite shores of Lake Bigler two rival nations, disputing with each other for the suprem
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ROSENTHAL'S ELAINE.
ROSENTHAL'S ELAINE.
I stood and gazed far out into the waste; No dip of oar broke on the listening ear; But the quick rippling of the inward flood Gave warning of approaching argosy....
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THE TELESCOPIC EYE.
THE TELESCOPIC EYE.
A LEAF FROM A REPORTER'S NOTE-BOOK. For the past five or six weeks, rumors of a strange abnormal development of the powers of vision of a youth named Johnny Palmer, whose parents reside at South San Francisco, have been whispered around in scientific circles in the city, and one or two short notices have appeared in the columns of some of our contemporaries relative to the prodigious lusus naturæ , as the scientists call it. Owing to the action taken by the California College of Sciences, whose
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THE EMERALD ISLE.
THE EMERALD ISLE.
Chaos was ended. From its ruins rolled The central Sun, poised on his throne of gold; The changeful Moon, that floods the hollow dome Of raven midnight with her silvery foam; Vast constellations swarming all around, In seas of azure, without line or bound, And this green globe, rock-ribbed and mountain-crown'd. THE CURSE. THE BLESSING. THE PROPHECY....
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THE EARTH'S HOT CENTER.
THE EARTH'S HOT CENTER.
The following extracts from the report of the Hon. John Flannagan, United States Consul at Bruges, in Belgium, to the Secretary of State, published in the Washington City Telegraph of a late date, will fully explain what is meant by the "Great Scare in Belgium." Our extracts are not taken continuously, as the entire document would be too voluminous for our pages. But where breaks appear we have indicated the hiatus in the usual manner by asterisks, or by brief explanations. GEN. FLANNAGAN'S REPO
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WILDEY'S DREAM.
WILDEY'S DREAM.
A blacksmith stood, at his anvil good, Just fifty years ago, And struck in his might, to the left and right, The iron all aglow. And fast and far, as each miniature star Illumined the dusky air, The sparks of his mind left a halo behind, Like the aureola of prayer....
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WHITHERWARD.
WHITHERWARD.
By pursuing the analogies of nature, the human mind reduces to order the vagaries of the imagination, and bodies them forth in forms of loveliness and in similitudes of heaven. By an irrevocable decree of Nature's God, all his works are progressive in the direction of himself. This law is traceable from the molehill up to the mountain, from the mite up to the man. Geology, speaking to us from the depths of a past eternity, from annals inscribed upon the imperishable rock, utters not one syllable
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OUR WEDDING-DAY.
OUR WEDDING-DAY.
I. A dozen springs, and more, dear Sue, Have bloomed, and passed away, Since hand in hand, and heart to heart, We spent our wedding-day. Youth blossomed on our cheeks, dear Sue, Joy chased each tear of woe, When first we promised to be true, That morning long ago. II. III. IV....
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THE OLD YEAR AND THE NEW.
THE OLD YEAR AND THE NEW.
One more flutter of time's restless wing, One more furrow in the forehead of spring; One more step in the journey of fate, One more ember gone out in life's grate; One more gray hair in the head of the sage, One more round in the ladder of age; One leaf more in the volume of doom, And one span less in the march to the tomb, Since brothers, we gathered around bowl and tree, And Santa Claus welcomed with frolic and glee....
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A PAIR OF MYTHS:
A PAIR OF MYTHS:
BEING A CHAPTER FROM AN UNPUBLISHED WORK. Eight days passed away unreckoned, and still I remained unconscious of everything occurring around me. The morning of the ninth dawned, dragged heavily along, and noon approached, whilst I lay in the same comatose state. No alteration had taken place, except that a deeper and sounder sleep seemed to have seized upon me; a symptom hailed by my physician with joy, but regarded by my mother with increased alarm. Suddenly, the incautious closing of my chambe
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THE LAST OF HIS RACE.
THE LAST OF HIS RACE.
No further can fate tempt or try me, With guerdon of pleasure or pain; Ere the noon of my life has sped by me, The last of my race I remain. To that home so long left I might journey; But they for whose greeting I yearn, Are launched on that shadowy ocean Whence voyagers never return....
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THE TWO GEORGES.
THE TWO GEORGES.
Between the years of our Lord 1730 and 1740, two men were born on opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean, whose lives were destined to exert a commanding influence on the age in which they lived, as well as to control the fortunes of many succeeding generations. One was by birth a plain peasant, the son of a Virginia farmer; the other an hereditary Prince, and the heir of an immense empire. It will be the main object of this sketch to trace the histories of these two individuals, so dissimilar in
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MASONRY.
MASONRY.
Oh, sacred spirit of Masonic love, Offspring of Heaven, the angels' bond above, Guardian of peace and every social tie, How deep the sources of thy fountains lie! How wide the realms that 'neath thy wings expand, Embracing every clime, encircling every land!...
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POLLOCK'S EUTHANASIA.
POLLOCK'S EUTHANASIA.
He is gone! the young, and gifted! By his own strong pinions lifted To the stars;...
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SCIENCE, LITERATURE AND ART DURING THE FIRST HALF OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
SCIENCE, LITERATURE AND ART DURING THE FIRST HALF OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
Looking back into the past, and exploring by the light of authentic history, sacred as well as profane, the characteristics of former ages, the merest tyro in learning cannot fail to perceive that certain epochs stand prominently out on the "sands of time," and indicate vast activity and uncommon power in the human mind. These epochs are so well marked that history has given them a designation, and to call them by their name, conjures up, as by the wand of an enchanter, the heroic representative
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THE ENROBING OF LIBERTY.
THE ENROBING OF LIBERTY.
The war-drum was silent, the cannon was mute, The sword in its scabbard lay still, And battle had gathered the last autumn fruit That crimson-dyed river and rill, When a Goddess came down from her mansion on high, To gladden the world with her smile, Leaving only her robes in the realm of the sky, That their sheen might no mortal beguile....
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A CAKE OF SOAP.
A CAKE OF SOAP.
I stood at my washstand, one bright sunny morn, And gazed through the blinds at the upbringing corn, And mourn'd that my summers were passing away, Like the dew on the meadow that morning in May....
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THE SUMMERFIELD CASE.
THE SUMMERFIELD CASE.
The following additional particulars, as sequel to the Summerfield homicide, have been furnished by an Auburn correspondent: M r. E ditor : The remarkable confession of the late Leonidas Parker, which appeared in your issue of the 13th ultimo, has given rise to a series of disturbances in this neighborhood, which, for romantic interest and downright depravity, have seldom been surpassed, even in California. Before proceeding to relate in detail the late transactions, allow me to remark that the
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THE AVITOR.
THE AVITOR.
Hurrah for the wings that never tire— For the nerves that never quail; For the heart that beats in a bosom of fire— For the lungs whose cast-iron lobes respire Where the eagle's breath would fail!...
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LOST AND FOUND.
LOST AND FOUND.
'Twas eventide in Eden. The mortals stood, Watchful and solemn, in speechless sorrow bound. He was erect, defiant, and unblenched. Tho' fallen, free—deceived, but not undone. She leaned on him, and drooped her pensive brow In token of the character she bore— The world's first penitent . Tears, gushing fast, Streamed from her azure eyes; and as they fled Beyond the eastern gate, where gleamed the swords Of guarding Cherubim, the flowers themselves Bent their sad heads, surcharged with dewy tears,
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