[From _The Poets and Poetry of the West_, edited by W. T. Coggeshall (Columbus, Ohio, 1860)]
She has passed, like a bird, from the minstrel throng, She has gone to the land where the lovely belong! Her place is hush'd by her lover's side, Yet his heart is full of his fair young bride; The hopes of his spirit are crushed and bowed As he thinks of his love in her long white shroud; For the fragrant sighs of her perfumed breath Were kissed from her lips by his rival--Death.
Cold is her bosom, her thin white arms All mutely crossed o'er its icy charms, As she lies, like a statue of Grecian art, With a marbled brow and a cold hushed heart; Her locks are bright, but their gloss is hid; Her eye is sunken 'neath its waxen lid: And thus she lies in her narrow hall-- Our fair young minstrel--the loved of all.
Light as a bird's were her springing feet, Her heart as joyous, her song as sweet; Yet never again shall that heart be stirred With its glad wild songs like a singing bird: Ne'er again shall the strains be sung, That in sweetness dropped from her silver tongue; The music is o'er, and Death's cold dart Hath broken the spell of that free, glad heart.
Often at eve, when the breeze is still, And the moon floats up by the distant hill, As I wander alone 'mid the summer bowers, And wreathe my locks with the sweet wild flowers, I will think of the time when she lingered there, With her mild blue eyes and her long fair hair; I will treasure her name in my bosom-core; But my heart is sad--I can sing no more.
Charles Wilkins Webber, the foremost Kentucky writer of prose fiction and adventure of the old school, was born at Russellville, Kentucky, May 29, 1819, the son of Dr. Augustine Webber, a noted Kentucky physician. In 1838 young Webber went to Texas where he was with the Rangers for several years. He later returned to Kentucky and studied medicine at Transylvania University, Lexington, which he soon abandoned for a brief course at Princeton Theological Seminary, with the idea of entering the Presbyterian ministry. A short time afterwards, however, he settled at New York as a literary man. Webber was connected with several newspapers and periodicals, being associate editor of _The Whig Review_ for about two years. His first book, called _Old Hicks, the Guide_ (New York, 1848) was followed by _The Gold Mines of the_ _Gila_ (New York, 1849, two vols.). In 1849 Webber organized an expedition to the Colorado country, but it utterly failed. Several of his other books were now published: _The Hunter-Naturalist_ (Philadelphia, 1851); _Tales of the Southern Border_ (1852; 1853); _Texas Virago_ (1852); _Wild Girl of Nebraska_ (1852); _Spiritual Vampirism_ (Philadelphia, 1853); _Jack Long, or the Shot in the Eye_ (London, 1853), his masterpiece; _Adventures with Texas Rifle Rangers_ (London, 1853); _Wild Scenes in the Forest and Prairie_ (London, 1854); and his last book, _History of Mystery_ (Philadelphia, 1855). In 1855 Webber joined William Walker's expedition to Central America, and in the battle of Rivas, he was mortally wounded. He died at Nicaragua, April 11, 1856, in the thirty-seventh year of his age. Webber's career is almost as interesting as his stories. In fact, he put so much of his life into his works that all of them may be said to be largely autobiographical.