William  Cullen  Bryant.  115

Bryant  has  told  us  in  more  than  one  poem.     This  is
from  the  "  Hymn  to  Death : "

"  He  is  in  his  grave  who  taught  my  youth
The  art  of  verse,  and  in  the  bud  of  life    offered    me  to   the
muses.  •-••••

When  the  earth

Received  thee,  tears  were  in  unyielding  eyes,
And  on  hard  cheeks,  and  they  who  deemed  thy  skill
Delayed  their  death-hour,  shuddered  and  turned  pale
When  thou  wert  gone.
This  faltering  verse,  which  thou
Shalt  not,  as  wont,  o'erlook,  is  all  I  have
To  offer  at  thy  grave, —  this,  and  the  hope
To  copy  thy  example."

"O'erlook,"  in  this  quotation,  is  an  unfortunate
word  ;  but  to  supervise,  and  not  to  pass  by,  is  its
evident  meaning.  This  "  Hymn  to  Death  "  was  not
written  until  1825.  Two  years  later,  Bryant  men
tioned  his  father  and  his  loved  sister  in  equally  affec
tionate  language :

"  Then  shall  I  behold
Him,  by  whose  kind  paternal  side  I  sprung,

And  her,  who,  still  and  cold,
Fills  the  next  grave,—  the  beautiful  and  young."

Similar  fervent  tributes  to  their  fathers,  to  whom
they  felt  that  they  owed  an  equal  debt,  have  been


u6  Poets'  Homes.
